


The Minotaur's Mate!

by storyseeker



Category: Bestiality - Fandom, Forced - Fandom, Greek and Roman Mythology, Minotaur - Fandom
Genre: Bull - Freeform, F/M, Forced, Love
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-10-14
Updated: 2016-10-14
Packaged: 2018-08-22 07:51:11
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 4
Words: 29,316
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8278379
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/storyseeker/pseuds/storyseeker
Summary: My own take on the Greek myth of the Minotaur!  One of the young women who is sacrificed to the Minotaur in his Labyrinth, manages to escape death by appealing to the Minotaur's bestial urges.





	1. Chapter 1

CHAPTER ONE

Cleo trembled in fear, as she silently walked through the dark corridors. It had been several hours now since she and the other 13 members of their group had been pushed through the entrance and into the Labyrinth. For the last two years, King Minos of Crete had been ordering her lord, King Aegeus of Athens, to send seven young men and seven maidens to his kingdom, where they would be sacrificed to the Minotaur; a monstrous beast said to be half man and half bull. 

Legend has it that the god Poseidon gave Minos a magnificent bull, with which he was able to prove his right to rule by claiming he had Poseidon’s favour, but only on the promise that after he was crowned king he would then return the bull by sacrificing it in Poseidon’s honour. When the time came, Minos instead decided to keep the bull and substituted another one in its stead. As punishment, Poseidon enchanted Minos’s queen to fall in love with the bull and mate with it, resulting in a child that grew up to be the Minotaur; a symbolic mockery of Minos’ deceit. 

Disgraced and ashamed, Minos had a massive underground maze called the Labyrinth built, into which he threw the Minotaur, locking it away and hiding it from everyone’s sight. Years later, after Minos defeated Athens, he ordered Aegeus to send 14 of its youngsters every year to be sacrificed to the beast. The victims were selected by the drawing of lots and sent to Crete, where they were sent into the Labyrinth, from which no one had ever escaped. It was said they would either be consumed by the Minotaur or get hopelessly lost in the Labyrinth’s seemingly endless passages until they starved to death.

Athens was in the second year of its subjugation and depression, and Cleo had been named among those 14 poor souls to be sacrificed. After arriving in Crete, she and her fellow Athenians had been thrown through the entrance to the Labyrinth. 

They had all stayed together at first, but after a while some left in an attempt to find a way out, while others had been arrogant enough to think they could defeat the Minotaur. The rest had just run off in panic until finally only she remained. 

Cleo rubbed her left arm to try and calm herself, wincing slightly from the partially healed bruise that lingered there. Everyone who saw it assumed she had gotten it from one of their captors, little suspecting the true culprit. The truth was; she had received this wound (not the first) from her intended husband because she had been talking to another boy. There had been nothing sinister in her meeting with the young man, as he was merely a friend she had known for years and had chanced to meet while visiting her sister. Her intended viewed her as disrespectful for even talking to another male. 

Her planned marriage had been arranged by her father and her intended’s family. He was a soldier from a wealthy family, and was traditional in his views concerning women and their place in Athens’ society. Women had very few rights in their culture, not allowed to vote or even go out of the house except to visit other women or attend funerals, and even then only with their husbands. His treatment of her was fairly typical of men in her homeland. 

Cleo gave a humourless smile. After meeting him she had prayed to the gods for release from the arranged marriage. Not long after that, her name had been drawn and she was told that she was to be among that year’s sacrifices for the Minotaur. 

‘Be careful what you wish for,’ she thought, as she carried on walking. The Labyrinth was as still and quiet as the grave. There was no sign of the others, as Cleo made her way onward, when suddenly... 

“AAAAARRGHHH!!!”

Cleo jumped, as a frightening scream tore through the maze’s stone passages. It seemed to come from everywhere at once. She couldn’t tell whether it was one person screaming or all of her comrades together. But as terrifying as they were, they were nothing compared to the sound that accompanied it. 

Together with the screams of terror, there came the grunting roars of something that sounded like neither man nor beast. Its roars echoed through the Labyrinth like thunder, and she almost swore she could feel the rumble through the stone floor. Then, as quickly as the sounds came, they stopped. Cleo stayed standing where she was, her feet felt rooted to the ground as her breath came out in shallow gasps. She didn’t know how long she stayed there; whether it was a few minutes or a few hours, she didn’t know. 

Eventually she worked up the nerve to carry on and walked slowly forward. She passed by a dozen more passageways and climbed several stone stairways, until finally she turned yet another corner and walked on a few more steps until she reached the end of the passageway, and after that… she bite her tongue to keep herself from screaming. 

She was in a large circular room, with a dozen more passages leading from it, and throughout the room there were countless human body parts; some that looked as if they had been decomposing for years, and others that looked fresh. She didn’t need to be a genius to know whose remains those were, as she recognised the face of one of the decapitated heads to be that of one of her fellow sacrificial maidens. The bodies were scattered around the room like discarded trash. It was impossible to tell how many there were. 

She choked on her own breath, as she forced herself not to scream as she turned to run down the path she had just come from, but then another sound made her freeze. 

It sounded like the same noises that a bull would make, but there was more to it than that. It was difficult to describe, but it was like the sounds were mixed in with the angry grunts of a man. The noise seemed to echo throughout the entire room and out of each the passageways. Then she heard the footsteps… 

THUMP! THUMP!

Whatever was making those footsteps, one thing was for sure; it was definitely big. She could actually feel the vibrations of the steps below her feet, as they came nearer, together with the grunting bull-like sounds that grew louder with every passing second. 

She knew she should hide or at least run, but there was nowhere to hide except under the pile of corpses, and she was tired from all the hours of walking the Labyrinth, and even if she weren’t, her feet felt frozen to the spot, as she shivered in fear. 

THUMP! THUMP! THUMP!

The steps came closer, to the point where Cleo could tell where they were coming from. The sounds were loudest coming out of the passageway directly across from her, and it wasn’t long before the cause of those thundering steps came into view, as it emerged from the shadows… 

The first thing she wanted to do was laugh hysterically. The beast was everything the legends spoke of and more. It walked on two legs like a man, but was more bull than human. It was around 8 to 10 feet tall, with hooves instead of feet, built entirely of muscle, with the head of a large bull with long sharply pointed horns, dark grey fur that covered its whole body, a long tail that she could make out hanging from its backside, and deep red eyes that even now peered straight at her. It had some clothing, however. A pair of dark golden pants with a dark red buckle fit it tightly, a pair of metal vambraces that decorated its arms, and a metal pauldron on its left shoulder. 

As she stared at it, she also noticed that it carried two things with it; a long trident in its right hand, and a net in its other. Inside the net, though, she saw what were unmistakably the remains of her countrymen. 

The Minotaur stared at her, its stance a perfect statue, as it cocked its head to the side, as though regarding her. Cleo wanted to flee, but her feet still would not obey, as her eyes stayed fixated on the monster for several minutes until at last it moved one of its hooves forward. That seemed to break the spell of Cleo’s paralysis temporarily, but she did not run. Instead, she grabbed a small sword that lay near the hand of a mangled arm that had been torn from its owner. She held it before her as a form of protection, though she had no sword-skills, and she was having a hard enough time just trying to keep it up. 

The Minotaur snarled, and raised its own weapon. The moment it did that, Cleo paused. She quickly looked around the room, at all the corpses’ arms. ‘They were all armed,’ she noticed, as she saw the weapons in their hands. All of her countrymen had been unarmed when they first arrived in Crete, but they must have found some weapons from some of the old corpses here. 

Suddenly, the Minotaur roared and charged. Cleo shrieked and leaped out of its way. It was big and powerful, but not very fast on its hooves, and it took a few moments to adjust. 

‘The Minotaur did not raise its weapon until I did,’ she realised, though that realisation could not help her now. She had been the first to raise her weapon, which the Minotaur immediately took as a sign of aggression and took offense. Her countrymen had obviously done the same thing, as like her, they would have been frightened by the mere sight of the beast and tried to defend themselves. 

The Minotaur roared again, brandishing its trident and charging at her. 

Cleo panicked, and dropped her weapon as a sign of peace, spreading empty hands to show she was harmless and hoping the Minotaur would understand. It didn’t matter whether it worked or not, as she had no skill with a blade, and she was trapped underground so there was no escape. Alas, it seemed the beast did not care. The look in its eyes was that of pure bloodlust, as it charged at her. She had threatened it, no matter how uselessly, and it had responded in full. 

She whimpered, as the beast bore down upon her, striking at her with its trident. The bestial half of its soul was obviously dominant when it came to battle and killing. She threw herself backwards to avoid the trident, as it struck at her, and narrowly missed its forked tips, as they ripped through her dress, missing her skin by a mere millimetre. 

‘This is it,’ she thought, as she slammed to the ground and closed her eyes to avoid watching her coming death. There was no escape for her now. ‘Hades, into your kingdom I commit my soul!’ 

Then, just as suddenly as it began, the Minotaur halted its attack. She could still hear its breath, as she heard its nostrils flare and exhale, and the sound from the metal of its trident scraping on the ground. 

Forcing her eyes to open, she looked ahead and saw the Minotaur standing before her, its face still flaring in rage and its trident aimed at her throat. She wondered why it had not yet killed her. She was unarmed and totally defenceless, and a moment ago all it had wanted was to run her down and impale her on its trident or even its own horns. Even now, it seemed like it was on the verge of killing her. Why had it stopped? 

The breath from its nostrils sent a warm breeze upon her, and she only just realised then that the left shoulder-strap of her dress had been ripped off from the earlier strike of the trident. It hung loosely, causing her breasts to become exposed. 

It was then that she realised what the Minotaur was staring at. Without thinking, she immediately went to cover herself, when suddenly she realised. ‘Of course. Besides the women who were sent here to be sacrificed to this creature, who it undoubtedly killed before it had the chance to clearly see them, I am probably the first woman it has ever truly gotten a good look at.’ 

It had distracted the monster momentarily, but she doubted that would work for long. Its instincts were obviously still telling it to go for the kill, like any beast, but at the same time it was also apparently finding the sight of a half-naked female distracting. At the moment it looked like it was caught between a rock and a hard place; its instincts telling it to kill, while its curiosity was telling it to wait and examine this new discovery. 

As Cleo kept her eyes on the Minotaur, something about the situation reminded her of a time when she was little. Her father had always had a strong temper, and she remembered one time when he had been furious about something (she couldn’t remember what), but he had been so angry that he had been close to shouting the walls down. Then her mother had taken him out of the room, and to their bed chamber. She had been too young at the time to know what they had been doing, but she knew now, her mother had taken him to bed, to make love. After which, he had seemed much calmer. 

After she had first got engaged, her mother had given her pieces of advice, taken from her own experience from years of marriage. She had a belief that rage and lust were like two sides of the same emotion, so when a man becomes aggravated, the best way to calm him is in bed. Cleo didn’t know whether to believe that or not, but in her father’s case it seemed to be true, as he always seemed calm right after he and her mother went to their room for a while. 

She half-raised her hand to her chest, and then stopped. What was she doing?! Was she seriously contemplating showing off her body to a beast like the Minotaur? And what would happen if she did? 

The Minotaur snorted, and started brandishing its trident at her again. The sight of its raging eyes and the trident’s spikes coming dangerously close to her throat settled the argument within her. 

‘If I do nothing, then chances are I will surely die,’ she thought. ‘But at least this way I will have some chance of surviving, with a possibility of escaping. And even if I don’t, this beast will undoubtedly ravage me anyway, and I have no way of defending myself or stopping it.’ 

Biting her lower lip, she reached up to the other strap of her dress and slowly pulled it down, exposing her chest before the monster. The moment she did, the Minotaur’s loud breathing seemed to slow down, as it watched her slip the rest of her dress off. 

Cleo closed her eyes again, trapping the tears threatening to spill from them, as she stood there naked, humiliating herself as she slipped out of her garment. After a while she opened her eyes again, though only slightly, as she stared at the Minotaur. Its eyes were definitely fixated on her now. It had lowered its trident, yet still kept a hold of it, as its red orbs followed her every move. She also couldn’t help but notice the huge bulge growing in its pants. 

The Minotaur’s face wore a somewhat comical expression now. It still bore some of the rage it had before, yet now it was mixed it with what she could only assume was lust, yet it also looked unsure and confused. Being a monster thrown into a labyrinth at birth on its own, Cleo supposed it had had no one who ever taught it the facts of life such as sex, so all this was completely new to it. 

It suddenly began pawing at the ground, its right hoof stamping at the dirt, and as she looked, she noticed how the bulge in the Minotaur’s pants had now grown so big that she could see the tip of its member poking out over its buckle. 

A loud clang echoed throughout the Labyrinth, and she saw the Minotaur’s trident fall to the floor as it dropped it. Its nostrils were once more flaring, as its hooves pawed the earthen floor, one after the other, looking as though it intended to charge. She first thought that maybe it hadn’t worked and the beast intended to kill her now anyway, but the next few minutes dispersed that thought. 

The Minotaur charged forward, easily closing the distance between them in four large steps, and grabbed her by her arms. It raised her up to his eye level, its blood-red eyes staring into hers intensely. She whimpered in fear, expecting it to rip her apart any second, but then it raised her up higher until her chest was at level with its eyes, and pulled her in closer. She felt its hot breath pouring over her, as it sniffed her chest, belly and finally her crotch. 

Cleo cringed, as its nostrils were pressed up against her opening, flaring open as it breathed her in, and started moving up and down against her. And then, she felt its tongue. 

She gasped, as the Minotaur’s giant tongue came out of its mouth and tickled her with its tip. She unconsciously crossed her legs, but the Minotaur continued its assault on her body without any hesitation, ignoring her attempt. Its tongue slipped in through her legs, like a warm slimy snake, licking her opening at first, before entering her. 

Cleo gasped again, as its tongue wiggled about inside her, tasting the inner walls of her vagina. It moved and squirmed, licking both sides inside her, and slowly working its way up. 

‘Is this really happening to me?’ she whimpered. Her purity was about to be stolen, her virginity taken, by a half-beast man?! ‘Gods have mercy on me!’ But it seemed they weren’t listening. 

The Minotaur’s tongue moved up higher, and Cleo moaned. How big was this beast’s tongue anyway?! It felt like it had already worked halfway up to her uterus by now, and yet it was still going. 

Suddenly, it pulled its tongue out, and Cleo was momentarily relieved, but only for an instant, as the Minotaur then quickly thrust it back up. 

“OOOH!” Cleo moaned loudly, which seemed to excite the beast even more, as it began thrusting its tongue slowly in and out of her. It paused every few seconds, to pull its tongue out again to lick some of the spilt juice coming out of her, only to push it back in again. 

“Oh! Oh! Ohh!” Cleo gasped, as the Minotaur kept up a steady rhythm; its tongue cleaning out her inner sanctum, acting almost like a penis as it thrust higher and harder. 

“Please…stop…” she breathed out, yet her words sounded hollow, even to her, for she had now opened her legs and wrapped them around the Minotaur’s huge head, squeezing it closer to her and her womanhood, wanting its tongue deeper within her. 

The Minotaur made low but deep grunts, like a true bull, as it licked. It knew nothing about women, sex or what to do in those situations, but its instincts guided it as they had always done before. It had relied on nothing else since being thrown into this prison when it was but an infant. It also relied on experience, and whenever anyone came into its lair, the Minotaur had always been attacked, the intruders attempting to slay it. That was what it expected from outsiders. This maiden, though, was the first one ever not to scream, run or attempt attacking it.

When she had dropped the weapon on the ground, it had been confused. Usually, an outsider would start to attack or at least flee, but this one did neither. Then she had started to take her garments off, which confused it even further. The Minotaur had always had clothes, as the ones from the world above had dressed it as an infant before sealing it down in the Labyrinth all those years ago. It didn’t know what they were for, but it assumed they were for something, and as it grew it had taken some garments and other things from those that came down here to hurt it. (Even before Minos started sacrificing the Athenians, he had sacrificed some of his own people as well.) 

But amidst its confusion, there had also been a sensation that it had never felt before. It didn’t know what it was, but the sight of her shining body, looking as though she were presenting herself to it, awoke a strong desire within it. It didn’t know what, but all it knew was that it wanted to be close to her. It knew where to start, too, as the maiden seemed to emit a scent that it had immediately found enticing, and had gone towards her. The scent seemed to come from between her legs, and when it first licked her, it found her to be secreting some kind of juice that was sweet and intoxicating, and made it want more. 

“Oh! Oh! OAAHH!!!” Cleo felt herself climax, as the Minotaur thrust its tongue deep into her. When she came, her juices overflowed within her, and the Minotaur tasted something like sweet sugar, which delighted it, having never tasted anything so sweet before. It thrust its tongue further in, to get as much as the sweet stuff as it could. 

‘I came from a beast’s tongue???’ she thought in a drowsing despair, yet she could not help but sigh in satisfaction, as the Minotaur’s tongue slid out of her. It licked her a few more times, supposedly cleaning up all her leftover juice, and then lowered her back to the ground. 

As she lay there breathing heavily on the earthen floor, her thoughts in a daze, she made out what sounded like the rustling of cloth. She half-raised her head to look up, and saw the Minotaur as it unbuckled the belt on its pants and pulled them down to its hooves. When it did, her first thought was that it had somehow hidden a large sword inside its garments, until she suddenly realised that that was no sword it held there! 

The Minotaur gave a grunt and deep sigh, as it pulled off its pants, releasing its trapped penis. Its pants were leather, and thus fitted it tightly, making it exceedingly uncomfortable for when it had started to grow large within its nether regions. It enjoyed the freedom, but there was something it wanted a lot more now. The Minotaur was not completely blind to the art of physical pleasure, as it had touched and explored its own body many times during its life, which was why it now knew what it wanted. 

Looking down at the maiden’s naked body, lying exposed, flushed and wet in her own regions, the Minotaur knew it wanted HER! Its eyes never left her, as it took a step forward. 

Cleo started to panic. ‘By all the Gods,’ she thought feverishly. It was enormous! The beast’s member was far larger than she had expected it to be. It was bigger than her forearm, and its width looked to be half the size of a tree-trunk! It stood to attention, fully erect, with a bead of its seed at the top, looking like it was salivating for her. ‘My body will never accommodate that! It won’t!’

When the Minotaur took a step towards her, its penis only giving a small shudder as its body jostled, indicating just how hard it now was, Cleo couldn’t stop herself from getting up and turning to run. She couldn’t help it, as the size had made her panic. She barely made it a few steps, though, when the Minotaur charged forth and grabbed her again. 

The Minotaur didn’t know why she had suddenly decided now to run, but at that moment it didn’t care. The taste of her body had now completely awoken its primal instincts, and her scent was urging it on further. The Minotaur’s body was demanding to be satiated, and it knew now what it had to do, to do that! It raced forward, and after but a few steps, it grabbed her with one huge hand, grasping her by her waist, and lifting her effortlessly back towards it. 

It turned her around until she was facing it, and then took hold of both her legs with its hands, and positioned her right over its member, which was rock hard and pulsing now, as the Minotaur guided her down.

“No, stop!” shrieked Cleo. “It’s too big! I’ll…I’ll…OOH!” 

The Minotaur slid her down, as she felt its huge tip penetrate her opening. She fell forward, resting her hands against the beast’s broad chest. At first she thought it had stopped, but then it practically dropped her, as she felt its manhood enter her and rise up. 

“OOOHHHHH!!” 

The beast seemed to take her cry as a sign of encouragement, as it began to thrust up into her. It held her legs, lifting them up and down upon its penis, like she was a ragdoll, while all the time moving its hips in a thrusting motion. The Minotaur breathed heavily with each thrust, as it blew hard and hot upon her chest, its nostrils flaring.

She fell backwards, avoiding the full drop down because of the Minotaur’s grip on her legs, which continued to lift and drop her as he thrust himself into her, and dangled there while her body jerked and moved along with the Minotaur’s thrusts. The air from its flaring nostrils washed over her as it grunted and puffed. 

“Slow down…it hurts…please…” Cleo’s voice whimpered, as the Minotaur continued its assault on her body uninterrupted, ignoring her plea. The pain of her first time was agonising, as she felt like a hot sword were being stabbed into her. She feared she would be torn apart. 

The Minotaur’s thoughts, or rather its emotions since it had little sentient thought, however, were the complete opposite. It found the sensation of this act to be unbelievable, as it had never felt such pleasure before, even when fondling itself in the past. Its body screamed in delight with each thrust, making it want to thrust harder. It did take notice of the female’s condition, though, during its ecstasy, as it saw her dangle backwards, echoing cries that it was used to hearing from those that it attacked and killed. But it wasn’t doing either of those things now, so why was she in pain? 

The Minotaur was still more beast than man, living life by its instincts and emotions, so the thought of rape, emotional pain or anything like that was alien to it. It didn’t want to stop. Far from it, as the pleasure of the Minotaur’s first time had consumed it, and even now made it want to go faster. But it was confused by the female’s cries, and didn’t understand why. 

The beast lowered its mighty head down, and removed one of its hands from her leg while the other one held her waist, holding her still in place without missing a thrust, and with its free hand it began squeezing her breast. It noticed that it seemed to enjoy touching that part of its body most so it thought she would like it. It also began licking her again, as its tongue caressed her other breast before heading up to her higher body, where it licked her mouth as though giving her an affectionate kiss. All the while, it never once stopped thrusting. 

Cleo squealed, as the thrusting felt like they were splitting her insides apart. Every moment she thought would be her last before the Minotaur’s shaft broke her. Suddenly, she felt the Minotaur’s grip on her shift, and a second later her left breast was squeezed. She forced herself to look up and saw two of the Minotaur’s huge fingers squeezing her breast, and its head lowered down till she could see its face right before her. It then began licking her again, this time on her chest, as it tickled the whole of her chest before moving up to her mouth. She didn’t respond to its kisses, as it made slurping noises while licking around her mouth, but while this was happening, the pain in her lower regions was finally started to subside, as her opening was stretched and adapted to accommodate the Minotaur’s size. 

“Mmmahh…” she moaned, as the Minotaur slid in and out of her in a smooth fluid notion. Her insides tightened with each thrust, as waves of pleasure flared within her scorching womanhood. “Ah! Ah! Ahhh!” She let herself dangle at the back again, as the Minotaur continued licking, squeezing and thrusting into her. It squeezed her breast, released it and then squeezed again, making her moan, and then its thrusts started to pick up speed, but she found herself actually desiring that, as the speed elicited even further pleasure within her. 

‘By the Gods, is this really happening to me?’ she thought. She should be disgusted, ashamed, defiled and a hundred other things, but right now all she could think and desire was ‘More!’ 

Surrendering to the sensation, she pulled herself up and grabbed the Minotaur’s face, pressing her own up against it. Its tongue licked her a few more times, and she returned its kiss, before the Minotaur pulled its head back and straightened its body, thrusting its hips up hard and pushing her body down. Cleo fell forward, slamming her head against the beasts hard and fur-covered chest, breathing in its earthy smell as its fur brushed against her face while she moved up and down. 

The Minotaur was delighted. The female’s cries had now stopped, and she seemed to be enjoying herself since she had even returned one of its kisses. It then moved itself back into its previous position, but kept its fingers around her breast, enjoying the feel of it, and thrust up hard. It growled, as it felt a pressure beginning to build up within its shaft. It thrust and pulled her faster and faster, its breath coming out in loud snorts that sounded like what modern people would call a steam engine. 

At the same time, Cleo felt her mind tilting, as her body grew hot and beads of sweat appeared on her forehead. She was close to climaxing any minute now, as she moaned in pleasure. The beast’s member slid in and out of her, stretching her inner walls, making it impossible for her to hold back from crying out. 

The Minotaur snarled with glee. It knew what was coming, having gone through it before when it fondled itself, only this time it felt like it was coming much harder and much stronger than before. It thrust its hips forward, inserting as much as it could without seriously damaging the female, wanting to get more of it into her as possible. And then, finally…

“AOOOAAAHHHHH!!” Both the Minotaur and Cleo felt their lower regions explode in a mighty storm of pleasure. The Minotaur roared so loud that it felt like the walls of the Labyrinth itself were shaking, but Cleo did not notice, as she was too busy riding her own wave of ecstasy. She screamed in desire, as her opening seemed to burst wide open, and she felt her belly swell up, as though warm milk was being poured into it. 

The last of her strength melted away, as she fell backwards again, dangling in the Minotaur’s grip, exhausted beyond belief. 

‘My virginity was taken from me…by this monster,’ she thought. The shame of it consumed her, even though she knew it had been the only way to keep the beast from killing her like it had the others in her group. But at the same time she also could not help but breathe in a contented glow. 

The Minotaur then lifted her up, sliding its penis out of her. The moment it did, she felt its seed pour out of her, making her belly begin to gradually deflate back to its normal size. She couldn’t help but look down, and noticed a big pool of the Minotaur’s semen forming on the floor. After a few seconds, the pouring finally stopped, leaving her insides empty. But then the Minotaur brought its head forward, and its tongue once more licked her womanhood, cleaning her of all its spilt seed. 

She moaned again at the touch of its giant pink tongue, enjoying it as it moved about, licking her opening and insides, bathing her clean until all that remained was its own saliva trail. 

Her face felt flushed, and she was tired. There was still the possibility that the Minotaur, now that it had its fun with her, might still kill her, but she was so worn out from its lust that she did not care. When it started to shift her in its grasp, Cleo did not put up a struggle nor even raise her head. She actually tried willing herself to drift off to sleep, so that her passing over the River Styx could be more peaceful. 

Her body was then slowly tilted over to the side, as the Minotaur laid her down in the crook of its arm, resting her head on its massive bicep. She looked up at it, and was momentarily surprise by the look on its face. Gone was all its rage from before, and even the lust seemed to have ebbed out of it. Its face, though difficult to read, seemed to covey concern or even affection. 

It gently shifted her whole body into the crook of one arm and carried her like a baby. Its bicep was huge and hard with muscle, yet the fur on its skin gave it an unusual softness that made her want to sleep. As she lay in its embrace, the Minotaur knelt down and picked up the net that held all her kinsmen’s heads. It then went around the room, picking up various things that it had brought with it, including its pants, trident, and even her dress, and placed most of them inside the net, using it as a sack. Once it had all that it needed, it turned around while holding the net and its trident in one hand and her in the other, and started walking to the passageway that it had originally come from. 

The Minotaur walked with slow careful steps, taking care not to jostle her with its movements. Every so often it would look down on her, staring at her with those great red eyes that Cleo had originally found so terrifying. Yet now, when those eyes looked down upon her, she saw no rage or bloodlust, but a kind of deep caring; as if she were its greatest treasure. 

The Minotaur walked with a slow and gentle movement, occasionally lowering its head down to hers, nuzzling her with its snout, as though to ensure she was all right. As it walked, Cleo snuggled into the warm fur of its hide, allowing the little movement it gave to rock her like a baby in a cradle, and gently fell into a deep slumber. 

 

To Be Continued…


	2. Chapter 2

CHAPTER TWO

 

After the Minotaur had finished having its fun with her, it had bundled Cleo up into its arms, together with what little possessions it had, including her own dress, and carried her deeper into the darkness of the Labyrinth. Cleo had paid little attention, as she assumed the Minotaur would kill her when it was done with her. But it did not. 

It carried her gently in its embrace, like a parent carrying their own child, being mindful and careful not to hurt or jostle her too much. She had fallen asleep at first, but its jostling of her soon woke her. She listened to the sound of its own hooves beating against the ground, as it walked deeper into the dark. Cleo could see nothing, but the beast seemed unfazed, no doubt due to it living in the Labyrinth’s dark corridors all its life, so its eyes was used to the darkness. 

After some time, it finally reached a small room, similar to the one they had just left, except this one appeared lived in. There was a huge pile of rags in one corner, which appeared to have been made into a bed. In another corner there were piles of swords, shields, daggers, and even some jewellery. No doubt they were the possessions of all the prisoners who had been sacrificed to the Minotaur. But the thing that scared her was at the centre of the room. She saw what appeared to be a huge throne made up of skulls, bones and various weapons. 

Thankfully, the Minotaur did not take her over there, and instead went over to the rag-pile and laid her down upon them. It took great care as it lay her down, as though she were glass and could shatter at the lightest touch. Once it seemed sure she was comfortable, the Minotaur got up and walked over to its throne of the dead, leaning its trident against it, and dropped the net it had been carrying with the human remains inside, and sat down, the bones creaking in protest at the immense weight. It then reached out, and grabbed a large goblet that was sitting at the foot of the throne. There was a small fountain next to it, providing water. 

The Minotaur held the goblet to the fountain and waited until it was full before bringing it back to its large lips, and taking a thirsty gulp from its rim. Cleo assumed the architect who built this Labyrinth must have installed such things like running water so that the creature would not die of thirst. She remembered the architect to be none other than the famed Daedalus. Rumour was it that Minos had him build this maze, but after he finished it he was imprisoned and sentenced to die, however, he and his son Icarus somehow managed to escape, supposedly by flying away on wings that Daedalus also made, only for Icarus to die in the attempt. Minos was believed to still be hunting the famous inventor, as he was the only one who knew the secrets of the Labyrinth. 

The Minotaur then noticed her looking at him, and it got up, refilled its cup and then brought it back over to her. It held her head up and gently guided the cup to her lips. She sipped the water gratefully, not realising just how thirsty she was until then. Once she was finished, the Minotaur got up and went back over to the throne, where its net was lying, and rummaged around inside of it before taking something out. Its back was turned to her, so she did not see what it was until it turned around, but when she did, she whimpered. 

It was an arm; a human arm, no doubt taken from one of her comrades, judging by its freshness. The Minotaur held it up, and then with a loud and sickening squelching sound, it bit into it and tore the arm’s flesh off. Cleo felt sick, as she watched the Minotaur munch on the arm. She felt her stomach churn at the sight of the blood dripping off its snout and the loud noises it made while chewing. She wanted to run, or at least shut her eyes and plug up her ears to escape the awful scene she was witnessing. But as before when she first met the Minotaur, she was frozen to the spot. 

The Minotaur than returned to her, and Cleo had a terrifying suspicion of what it intended to do next. And no sooner had she thought this, the Minotaur then knelt down beside her and held out the arm right under her nose, apparently offering her a bite. She moaned in disgust, and turned her head away, feeling sick, but the Minotaur kept shoving the arm to her face, apparently not understanding or not caring why she was turning away a free meal. 

Cleo kept her head turned, her teeth clenched in disgust at the smell the arm was emitting. She could smell the blood that was only just beginning to go off due to the time of the person’s death. 

“No,” she whispered, keeping her face away, but the beast kept pushing the arm to her, insisting she eat. She knew that human flesh was probably all the food this monster had, and if she didn’t eat then chances are she would starve, assuming the Minotaur didn’t kill her before then, but right now she didn’t care. She would rather die a thousand deaths than be forced to eat the flesh of another human being. 

The Minotaur suddenly gave a loud roar, its booming sound hurting her eardrums, and it thrust the arm toward her again. 

“I said NO!” she half-screamed, and then cowered in fear of what the Minotaur might do in response to her retaliation, but she did not stop talking. “I won’t eat those of my own race; especially not those of my homeland.”

The Minotaur stopped then, slowly lowering the arm down, and looked at her, its large eyes staring balefully at her. It looked to be at a crossroad of thought, trying to decide whether to force-feed her or maybe simply kill her. After a few moments, just when Cleo thought that her time was finally up and the beast would send her to the Underworld, the Minotaur threw the arm away and stood up. It went over to where its net lay, grabbed it and turned it over, emptying its contents onto the floor before it then stomped out of the room, leaving her to the silence and darkness. 

Cleo lay where she was, her heavy breathing being the only sound. She first thought about getting up and trying to escape, but she knew that was pointless. She knew from experience that she would never find her way around the Labyrinth, and even if she did there was no escape. There was little doubt what the Minotaur would do to her if she tried. So she remained where she was, lying on the rags, which she gathered to wrap around herself. She felt as she did when she was a child, frightened of the dark and calling for her mother. Part of her almost wanted the Minotaur to return if only for his protection. 

Time passed; she didn’t know how long. Eventually she grew too anxious to remain lying there, so she got up and headed across the room. She didn’t plan to leave, but she thought that maybe she could at least try bringing a little light into the room. Her eyes had since adjusted to the dark, but she still had trouble making things out, so she felt around the floor searching for any little items he could use. As she felt along the floor, her hand touched something soft, which she instantly pulled back, fearing it might be another piece of human flesh. 

In the end, she found some bricks and stones that had undoubtedly fallen from the walls, either due to age or the Minotaur bashing into them. She then took some rags from the bed, and a bone from near the throne, which she wrapped the rags around, and started banging the stones against each other, trying to start a light. After a few minutes of trying, she managed a few sparks, which fell on the rags and got them to ignite, giving her a shining torch that brought her some much sought after light. 

The torch was small, but the flames at least illuminated half of the room. She quickly gathered some more rags, and with them was able to build a small fire, which chased the rest of the darkness away. Although nothing had changed, the light at least let her see, and that leant her courage, like the Prometheus of legend that gave fire to the mortals. 

Now that there was light, she looked around and found her dress lying discarded near her. With her sense of modesty overwhelming her, she went over and dressed herself, before returning to the fire where she started to warm her hands. A short time later she heard the unmistakable stomping sound of the Minotaur sounding off in the distance. They quickly grew louder, and before long it entered the room from one of the passageways, carrying its net with it. It paused at the doorway, gazing in puzzlement at the fire. 

“I was cold, and I can’t see very well in the dark,” she said aloud, though she wondered why she said it in the first place, since the Minotaur was obviously incapable of speech. It did nothing at first, and just stood where it was, gazing in apparent wonder at the dancing flames. 

After a few moments she finally realised, ‘It’s never seen fire. Well, of course it had never seen fire before, since it had lived its whole life in this Labyrinth!’

It cautiously approached the small fire, as though thinking it might spring up like an animal and attack. As it got near, the Minotaur reached out to touch it. 

“Wait, no!” she grabbed the Minotaur’s giant hand, her own looking like it had shrunk in comparison. “It will hurt you if you touch it.” When she said that, she suddenly realised what she had done and that she may have put her own life at risk again by nearly shouting at the Minotaur. She started to take her hand away, but the Minotaur then enclosed its own hand on hers, holding it firmly but gently. 

She looked up into the great beast’s eyes, and for one moment she thought she could actually see something akin to delight in its eyes; almost as though it knew she had just tried to save it from being hurt. After a few moments, the Minotaur then released her hand, pulled up its net and tipped it over, emptying its contents onto the floor. 

Thankfully it wasn’t more human flesh, but instead all that came out were rats; at least two dozen. Apparently, the Minotaur had been hunting. 

She looked up at the beast’s face, and saw it looking at her again as though expecting her to do something. It picked up one of the rats and held it out to her. It then dawned on her that since she had refused to eat the flesh of her kinsmen, this would have to be her meal instead. 

She grimaced at the thought of eating vermin, but in the end she supposed it was better than turning cannibal. However, now that she had fire to work with, she would be damned if she would eat them raw. She took the rat from the Minotaur, picked up a dagger from one of the other piles in the room, and began gutting the rodent. Once she finished that, she then used one of the bones to hang the rat on, and held it out over the fire, to let it cook slowly, and went on to do the same to the others. 

The Minotaur watched her in confusion, wondering why she was playing with her food, and not just eat it right away? Surely she must be hungry now? 

As the rat cooked over the flames, the smell of cooked flesh filled the room. Cleo noticed how the Minotaur’s nostrils flared, as it breathed in the aroma, having never smelt cooked meat before. Once it was finished, she brought the rat up and took a small nimble. It wasn’t her first choice for a meal, but it was edible at least. When she saw the Minotaur watching her, she cautiously held the rat out to it, offering it a taste. It moved forward, smelling the meal with his huge snout, and then in the blink of an eye grabbed it and shoved it into its mouth, nosily chewing the rat and its bones into mush. 

Cleo grimaced at the sight, but was grateful that at least he wasn’t chewing on a human limb. 

The Minotaur licked its lips hungrily, wondering how the female had got the rodent to taste like that. It had eaten rats, since the remains of the ones who came to its home and attacked didn’t last forever, though it didn’t eat them often. They didn’t have as much meat on them as his attackers did, but then again they had never tasted like this before. It took another rat from the fire, the same time as she did, and quickly devoured that as well. Luckily there were many rats down in its home, so there was no danger of shortage. 

As Cleo timidly ate the cooked rats, she watched as the Minotaur devoured its own. Again she realised that this would have to be the first time it had ever eaten anything cooked before, since being locked in the Labyrinth all its life. 

‘All its life,’ she thought, looking around at the dark shadows. ‘It has spent its entire life here in this gods forsaken place; no company, no food except for rats and the people sacrificed to it. It’s never known light, the sun, or seen the sky.’ When she thought about her own people sacrificed to it, her thoughts turned dark for a moment, until she remembered how they must have reacted to the beast. Like her they must have acted on impulse and grabbed a weapon, and tried to slay it. ‘It’s lived down here alone all its life, with no company except those who try to kill it after seeing it.’ 

She sat quietly, eating her food by the firelight, as the Minotaur ate its own. It went through more than a dozen rats before it was finally finished. It pounded its fist against its chest, apparently suffering a little indigestion, which didn’t surprise her. After it did that, it rose up from the ground again and reached for her. She yelped a little in fright, as it took her up by her waist and lifted her up effortlessly, and carried her with it back over to the rags. After that, it lay itself down on the rags, with her right beside it, and seemingly settled down to sleep. 

Cleo held her hands together, as she lay beside the great beast, which wrapped its one arm around her and hugged her to its chest. She felt its loud breathing on top of her head, as it started a chorus of light snores, but stayed still. Since there was no way out, and no escape, she resigned herself to her fate and snuggled against its chest. The warm soft fur on its body provided as an extra blanket, and she found herself starting to feel actually cosy. 

She lay back against the Minotaur; its body warming her as she listened to its heavy breathing, and let her eyes drop close while she slowly drifted off to sleep. 

0000000000

The next day, Cleo awoke once more to the sound of the Minotaur’s snores and disgruntled grunts. The Minotaur seemed to suffer from nightmares, based on the way it kept jostling its head, and the deep growls and grunts that it made in its sleep. 

She didn’t know what would scare something like the Minotaur to make it have bad dreams, and she didn’t want to. Not only that, but she didn’t want to risk getting hit by its arms or stabbed by its horns while it kept jerking in its sleep either. She sat up and knelt by the Minotaur’s gigantic head, placing her hands on either side of it, and began gently massaging them. This technique was usually reserved to help those with headaches, but she saw no harm in trying. 

She gently but firmly massaged its head, and at first it seemed to do nothing, but after a while the Minotaur quietened down and soon began snoring again. It even made a low moan of what she took for as pleasure. 

She kept going for a few more minutes before she finally stopped, and silently backed up. She stayed still for a little while longer until finally the boredom got the better of her, and she slowly sat up, taking care not to wake it. The fire from the previous night had long since burned out, leaving the room once again in total darkness, so she crawled over the ground, feeling around until she found where the fire had been, and immediately started to relight it. After a few minutes, she got a spark and soon filled the room with light again. 

She stayed sitting there for a few more minutes, warming herself by the fire and paying little attention to the Minotaur’s heavy breathing, and didn’t even notice when they stopped. She idly looked at the shadows that played across the Labyrinth walls until she grew so bored she decided to chance a small walk. She knew there was no escape, but as long as she didn’t go too far then she shouldn’t get lost. 

She got up and walked over to one of the archway passages, preparing to go down it. She barely got her foot inside the archway when her whole body was suddenly grabbed and lifted right off the floor, making her gasp. As she was turned around, she unsurprisingly came face to face with the Minotaur. How it managed to get up and cross the room without her hearing it, she couldn’t fathom. 

It held her in its grasp, lifting her up to its eyes. She couldn’t tell whether it was mad or just plain hungry, as it stared directly at her, its teeth only slightly barred. Just when she thought that it was going to take a bite out of her, it turned around and carried her back over to the fire, where it dumped her in the place where she had been sitting just moments ago. 

“I was just going for a walk!” she said indignantly, forgetting that the beast couldn’t understand her. “You know I can’t leave the Labyrinth.” The Minotaur said nothing, of course, and just sat down across from her, staring at her. 

Cleo should have kept quiet, since she still didn’t fully understand the Minotaur and its behaviour. After all, there was still a chance that it could attack her at any minute. However, she was so bored from just sitting there in that round room that she longed to go somewhere, even if it was just to walk some of the endless corridors of the Labyrinth. 

“I won’t escape. I promise,” she said gently, and started to get up again. She did it slowly, not wanting to provoke it, and it seemed to work since the Minotaur made no move. Once she was standing, she started backing up to one of the archways, but still the Minotaur kept still. Unfortunately, just as she made it halfway to the passage and had thought the beast was calmed down, the Minotaur suddenly got up and strode over to her, its long legs easily closing the gap between them. 

She gasped, and couldn’t help but spin around out of instinct, to run, but the moment she did that the Minotaur grabbed her yet again and carried her back over to the fire, where this time it laid her down flat on the floor. 

Cleo turned over on the floor, lying on her back, in an attempt to get up. “I only wish to…” she started to say, but didn’t get to finish. After the Minotaur had laid her down on the floor, it had then turned around, and was right now lowering itself down onto her. 

She squealed, as the beast sat on top of her, its huge backside covering most of her body, leaving only her head and her feet visible on either side of it. “Get…off…me!” she wheezed, as she wiggled her feet and twisted her head in a pointless effort to escape. The Minotaur merely gave her a glance, but remained where it was, and gave a small shuffle as it got comfortable on her. 

Cleo strained, as she struggled to move her hands beneath the beast’s huge bottom covering her, but its weight was so immensely heavy that she could barely even wiggle them. The Minotaur gave the odd grunt, which sounded almost like a chuckle to her, making her think the beast was laughing at her. 

“Get…off…” she pleaded in shallow breaths, as her lungs screamed for air. The Minotaur’s crushing weight made it impossible for her to breathe properly. “Please… I can’t breathe… You’re…killing me…!”

Those words seemed to attract the Minotaur’s attention then, as it peered down, looking on her intensely. Just when she thought she was about to lose consciousness, the beast quickly stood up, letting the air flow right back into her lungs, and stepped aside. 

Cleo lay where she was for a few minutes, breathing in the much needed air, until her vision came back into focus. After that she slowly raised her head, followed by a painful attempt to raise the rest of her body, which now ached terribly from the Minotaur’s weight. While she got up, the Minotaur was standing across from her; its bale eyes watching her keenly. It didn’t move from its position one bit, even after she finished getting up. 

Once she was up, Cleo looked up at the beast. She briefly wondered why it had gotten up from her. If its intention had been to kill her then that would have been a sure, though, comical way to do it. But why had it released her? It hadn’t seemed bothered at first, not even when she had first spoken, but after a while it had hurried to get off her. What was its motivation? Did it want to kill her, eat her, or was it just toying with her? 

It then raised its right hand, making Cleo flinch, wondering if it was going to strike her. But instead, all it did was point at her with its large finger, and then pointed at the floor, followed by the archway that she had just tried to leave through, and then it gave a loud snarl. 

Until then she hadn’t believed the Minotaur had had even minor intelligence, but even she could see the meaning behind its actions then: She must stay here, and don’t leave this room! 

“I only wanted to walk for a little bit,” she said hopelessly. “I can’t escape this place any more than you can, and I was growing insane from staying here in this one place for too long. If I can’t leave the Labyrinth then can I at least explore some of it?” 

The Minotaur stood staring at her blankly for a moment, making her remember that it couldn’t understand speech, so she hung her head in defeat and stared at the floor. It clearly didn’t want her to leave, so what could she do besides submit to its will? 

She looked down numbly at the floor, wondering if this was all she had to look forward to now. A few minutes passed, and then she heard (and felt the vibrations from) the Minotaur’s footsteps walk away from her. She looked up and saw it reach the archway she had been to recently, once more carrying its trident and its net. She figured it knew or at least didn’t believe she would be stupid to risk going off on her own again, not after its warning, and was probably going to go hunting for rats again. She was about hung her head down again, but then the Minotaur did something surprising. 

Once it reached the archway, the Minotaur stopped and looked at her. It stood where it was for a second, then a moment, and then a minute which stretched into several more, making her wonder if it were frozen to the spot for some reason. She didn’t understand at first, but then she looked up into the beast’s face and saw it looking at her. It then lowered its gaze to the passageway in the arch it was in, and then back to her. 

‘An invitation,’ she finally realised. It was waiting for her! But why? Did this beast have compassion in its soul somewhere? No. A monster such as this that ate the flesh of man couldn’t possibly bear one. And yet… Why had it got up from her before, and why was it doing this now? 

All this and more fluttered through her head, raising more questions, but then she noticed the Minotaur’s face. It was baring its teeth and snorting loudly, bearing something that was not unlike frustration on its face. Clearly it was getting impatient with her, and she didn’t want to risk getting its ire up any further. She got up and hurried over to it. It didn’t raise its hand for hers, as a man would do, nor did it offer her to go first. As soon as she reached it, it simply turned and walked through the archway. 

Nervous but curious, and eager to at least go somewhere, even if it was just walking around the Labyrinth, Cleo followed. 

0000000000

They spent several hours walking the seemingly endless passageways of the Labyrinth. Cleo knew there would be little to see, but still she was a little disappointed, because there had been a tiny part of her that hoped that maybe they would be lucky and find a secret way out of the maze. But that hope was soon dashed. 

The Minotaur had spent all its time hunting rats. It was amazingly quick, considering its huge size and stature. One moment it would be walking slowly, its ears pricking up at any sound, and then suddenly in the blink of an eye it would race forward and grab a rat, which it would then crush in the palm of its hand, and then place inside its net. 

By the time they returned to the Minotaur’s lair, they had acquired a large net full of dead rats. While Cleo still felt squeamish at eating vermin, it was still better than feasting on human flesh. As soon as they returned to the lair, the Minotaur dropped the rats by the fire that had once again burned out, so Cleo set to relight it again and start cooking the rats, while the Minotaur went back to sit in its throne, leaning its trident against it, watching her keenly. 

Once the rats were finished, she gathered them up and took them over to the Minotaur’s throne. As a woman in Athens, she had been taught to respect and serve men, so serving the Minotaur wasn’t that much different. It looked at the cooked rodents hungrily, as she came over with them, its huge tongue rolling out and licking its wet lips. The moment she was within arm’s length, it reached out and snatched a large handful of the rats from her, tossed them into its giant mouth and began chewing. There were plenty more, which were still cooking by the fire. She had to roast several dozen of them to satisfy the Minotaur’s hunger, which she did for the next hour or so, as the Minotaur chewed noisily, pausing only to take the odd drink from the fountain by its throne. 

Finally, after its 30th or 40th rat, the Minotaur sat back and gave a large belch, one that almost shook the walls, before it reclined into its throne. It idly picked at its teeth, pulling out the bones of the rodents, which it spat out, while Cleo sat near the fire, eating her share of the meal. After she finished, she also leaned back, enjoying the warmth. For now, everything seemed to be calm, including the Minotaur. 

Just then, the Minotaur made a loud snort, scratched its chest, and raised itself from its throne, as it stretched its impressive arms outward further than a hawk’s wingspan, and looked at her. 

She knew what was coming even before what happened next. The way it moved, and the act in its demeanour were all too clear, as the Minotaur stood up and jostled the buckle of its belt at her, followed by a clap of its fist in its hand. It was a sign indicating what it intended to do with her now; namely to mate. 

In truth, she had been expecting this to happen again soon. She wasn’t stupid enough to believe that yesterday would be the only time it would vent its lust on her. There was no more escape now than there had been yesterday, and if the price for it not killing her like it had done her comrades, and giving her the food (lowly as it was) as well as its company, was for the touch of her body, then she supposed it could have been worse. 

That didn’t mean she had to like it, though. 

It unbuckled its belt and dropped its pants. The moment it did, Cleo once again felt a hot flush to her face as she stared in embarrassment but also in awe at the Minotaur’s impressive length; so long and pointed that it looked like a giant tusk. The Minotaur then rushed over quickly to her, making her close her eyes as she half-expected it to drop down upon and crush her. But just as it reached her, it suddenly stopped. 

She opened her eyes, and found the beast standing still above her, looking down on her with a hard stare. It remained like that, clearly waiting for something, though she knew not what. She could tell what it wanted, as its huge erection was evident enough, and the constant snorts it was emitting from its snout made her realise it was clearly anxious to start, but for some reason it did nothing and stayed where it was. 

After a few minutes of waiting, Cleo was filled with anxiety herself. Why was it waiting?! Why didn’t it just take her already?! Was it toying with her for some insane pleasure or amusement?! 

But still it made no move, and just stood still before her, looking down, its erection not leaving. And after another minute, it raised its hands in front of it and made some form of gesture, by holding them out and spreading the air apart. 

It took her a while to realise what the thing was indicating, but then she suddenly realised what it was… It was waiting for her to give it her permission! But why?! This beast could do whatever it wanted with no repercussion or consequences; its strength and savagery allowing it no opposition, so why was it waiting for her to give it the go ahead? She pondered this for a short while until she also realised something else; if the beast was waiting for her permission, then maybe it wouldn’t do anything to her until she did. So all she need do was keep quiet, and then maybe it would leave her alone. 

The Minotaur snorted and pawed at the ground with its hooves, clearly agitated, yet still it did nothing. It looked down on her, and, despite its agitation, its eyes had a look of calm and almost gentleness about them, as though it were saying it would wait for her forever. 

‘I don’t have to do anything. I can stay quiet and it will eventually leave,’ thought Cleo, as she repeated these words in her head. Chances are it would leave her, but then again with the way it was acting, it might just go mad. Its penis, now half the length of a sword and as thick as half the size of a pipe, stood throbbing at her so much that she could see the veins on it popping out. 

She licked her dry lips, as she remembered. It had hurt so bad at first, but then she remembered later on the pleasure she had felt. She knew it was dirty and sacrilegious, but at the same time she couldn’t help but feel a longing. She was trapped down here in this accursed Labyrinth, most likely forever, and if she could momentarily escape it, even if only through the beast’s touch and the feeling of pleasure, then maybe… 

These and many other thoughts drifted in and out of her mind until finally she simply lay back and spread her legs while nodding at the Minotaur, giving it her permission. The second she did that, the Minotaur wasted no time and took her. 

As it had yesterday, the Minotaur grabbed her by her legs, raised them up until they were at either side of its hips, locked them there with its elbows, and then collapsed down upon her. Luckily it had its hands out on either side of her, so it didn’t drop its full weight on her. It then half-laid itself upon her, its chest and belly just above her face, and prodded its member against her opening. 

Cleo flinched slightly, as she felt the tip of its shaft come against her, but did not scream. Even when it thrust itself forward, entering her, she did not resist. Indeed, the second it entered her, Cleo bit back a pleasure-filled moan, as there was none of the pain she had first experienced yesterday. She gasped, as it thrust on, pushing itself further into her until she could feel it prodding up into her belly. 

“Oooohhhh…” she moaned, as she dug her fingers into the Minotaur’s chest above her, which then started moving up and down as it began thrusting rhythmically into her. The sex was a lot gentler now; no doubt because it had already stretched her out. There was still a little pain but not much; only pleasure. 

As she lay beneath it, her hands upon its chest, feeling its fur move between her fingers with each thrust, she moaned in ecstasy, which spurred the beast on. It moved quickly and smoothly for over half an hour, though to her it felt like only a couple of minutes, as it ended far too soon. It snorted in anxious delight as it began to pick up speed, and Cleo tightened her grip on its masculine chest, her breathing quickening in time to the Minotaur’s thrusts, until finally it once more gave its almighty roar, and Cleo felt her insides flow as though a hot tap had been turned on inside them. 

She knew she should feel disgusted and ashamed of herself for committing this sinful act, but try as she might she couldn’t help but enjoy the sensations that the Minotaur gave her. The size of its enormous shaft when erect, and the way its body moved when it was inside of her, the heat radiating off it as it thrust with a seemingly endless lust and passion… 

While she could not deny the disgust she felt, she could also not deny the arousal. 

After the Minotaur was finished, it sat hovering over her, its hot breath panting; its sound similar to what people would one day know as a steam engine. After a while it finally got up, and bent its head down between her legs, its huge tongue starting to lick and clean her of its seed while making low and deep whining noises, like a dog when pining for its master’s affection. Cleo relaxed, enjoying the feel of its smooth, thick, and wet tongue, as it flicked her clitoris, and waited until it was finished before it pulled back and stood up. It then reached down, picked her up, and carried her with it over to its throne. 

As it sat down, it held her on its lap and close to its chest, and stroked her hair with its gentle touch. She lay in its embrace, as her eyes started to grow heavy while it continued caressing her. The Minotaur never seemed to grow tired of fussing over her like a baby, which in a way was annoying and somewhat humiliating, but at the same time still sweet and affectionate. Plus, it showed that it still cared for her, so it was doubtful it would ever turn on her. 

As her head lay against its massive chest, she listened to the loud beating of its heart, while her head sank into its gigantic bicep as she slowly drifted off to sleep. 

0000000000

Before she knew it, several weeks had passed, or maybe months since she had no way of telling time while cut off from the sun up above. Cleo would have lost her mind long ago if it weren’t for the continued presence of the Minotaur, but even that wasn’t enough to dispel the constant boredom. 

Each day was more or less the same. She would wake beside the Minotaur. It would get up and go hunting for some more rats, sometimes taking her with it. She then cooked the rats for them, and then the two of them just spent hours doing idle things. Sometimes the Minotaur would walk through the Labyrinth, taking her with it, and other times they would just sit and stare at each other. The Minotaur was forever doing that. Sometimes she would wake up and find it right over her, watching her keenly. It made her feel like a prized lamb at market. 

Other times the Minotaur would pick her up, hold her in its lap and fondle her, like a child would do with its pet. The Minotaur often treated her as something similar, as it clearly adored her. It was forever looking at her, touching her and making sure she was close by when it wasn’t out hunting for rats. The way it looked at her, she couldn’t help but think that it looked on her as its most treasured possession. 

And then, of course, there was the sex. It had a vigorous appetite, as it mated with her every day without fail. She guessed that the years on its own would be enough for it to build up enough stamina to last ages. 

Today they were in the lair, with the Minotaur sitting on its throne and drinking from its fountain, and Cleo idly sitting on the floor doing nothing. She was bored stiff, as she reached down absent-mindedly with her finger and began to make images in the dirt. She was not really paying attention to what she was doing, and so did not notice how the Minotaur was watching her. She idly traced out a rough image of the Minotaur, and then suddenly noticed its breath on the back of her neck, and looked up to see it staring at the image she’d created in interest. 

“Umm, it’s a picture,” she said hesitantly, and reached down to sketch another one. This time she traced a rough picture of a sun. “This is an image of the sun.” At the Minotaur’s blank look, she added, “The sun is a gift from Apollo who brings it to us mortals each day. It warms the earth and brightens the sky.” Again there was no reaction. 

‘Surely it must have seen the sun and the sky at least once before it was brought here?’ she thought. After all, the Minotaur was not born here. It must have some memory of the world outside, shouldn’t it? But the Minotaur did nothing except gaze in confusion at the crude image, not understanding. 

Despite how hard she tried to remember its dark nature, she found herself considering things she never had before. The Minotaur had once been a child, like everyone was in the beginning, yet unlike herself; the Minotaur had never had a loving family, but instead had been snatched away from or spurned by its mother like an unwanted plague. It had been spit upon, mocked and feared for its appearance, deemed a curse upon its own family, and then tossed into this Labyrinth, doomed to forever wander its endless and dark corridors. 

Cleo thought about the days when the Minotaur had first been imprisoned here, and imagined it as a small child (a Minotaur yes, but still a child). Thrown into the Labyrinth’s dark depths, with no one’s hand to hold onto, no one to hold it and say that everything would be okay. Locked inside the darkness with no escape, alone and scared. Just a child and being forced to endure that! 

‘Perhaps the Minotaur is not the real monster here,’ she thought. She looked up to the beast that was still staring down in honest confusion at her drawings, and gave him a gentle smile. She then pointed to the image of the Minotaur’s face, which she had done right next to the sun. ‘Maybe the closest way he’ll ever come to seeing the real thing,’ she thought sadly. 

She pointed at the image and then at him. “Min-o-taur,” she stated, pointing at the drawing again, and then pointed at him, repeating the same, “Min-o-taur.”

He cocked his head at her, clearly not understanding, but she continued. “Cleo,” she said, pointing at herself now. “Minotaur.” Again she pointed at him, and then at her sun in the dirt. “Sun.”

They went through this several more times, and at one point, Cleo actually thought he was about to say something, as he gave her a hard stare and opened his mouth, but instead all that came out was a large grunt and snort from his nostrils. He then pointed his own large finger onto the floor, and began making his own drawings, although it was crude. Cleo honestly could not tell what they were, as they seemed to be no more than mere zig-zags and odd circles. But he seemed to be enjoying himself at least. 

Cleo smiled and went back to tracing her finger through the dirt again, matching it with his, as they made idle doodles and patterns in the earthen floor. During their ‘art lesson’, the Minotaur made a sort of snort-like noise that sounded eerily like a chuckle, but she put that off to her imagination. For now, the Minotaur seemed almost content and actually happy, which meant she was safe and had no reason to fear. 

As they played on the floor, drawing and laughing, Cleo was so busy smiling that she had not yet realised that she had begun referring to the Minotaur now as “him” instead of “it”. 

0000000000

Cleo lay on their bed, awaiting the Minotaur’s return from his latest rat-hunt. She had not gone with him today, as for the last several days she had been feeling weak and sick in the morning, and thought a day in bed would help. 

Another few weeks had passed, and she had by then grown used to the Labyrinth’s darkness, the taste of rodents, and the Minotaur’s continued presence and habits. They spent most of their time now (when they weren’t mating) either with her trying to teach him to talk, draw, or how to read and write, but she always met with failure. The Minotaur was obviously too beast-like to learn, but she cared not. 

She no longer looked upon him as a beast or monster, but as a valued companion. It was clear he viewed her as more than that, more like a mate, but she didn’t care. She didn’t even mind his limitless lust for her anymore, and had even grown to look forward to it, as his passion was beyond any mere mortal man, yet his touch was much softer and gentler than her intended’s had ever been. 

In the months she had been with him, she had been exposed to an endless variety of passion and sex that she had never even dared dream about back in Athens. He had taken her in virtually every position; from the way of animals, with her positioned on all fours and him riding her from behind, to just the other day when he had been sitting cross-legged on the floor with her in his lap, lifting her up and down on his hard weapon, and licking her face. 

Each day he tried new and erotic techniques with her; things that would even make the goddess of love, Aphrodite, blush. Yet still he was not satisfied, and neither was she. She yearned for more! If her people could see her, they would call her a harlot and an abomination that had been bewitched and defiled by an unholy monster. Maybe there was some truth in that, as she was surely not the same woman she had been before coming to Crete, and yet when she thought about it, she found herself uncaring. 

Maybe she was a whore now; a whore that slept with monsters. But if she could choose between remaining here in this dark Labyrinth with her beast of a mate, enjoying the forbidden fruit of his loins, to going back to her life in Athens where she would spend day after day rarely seeing anyone, looked over and barely noticed simply for being a woman, then she would take the Labyrinth any day. It was strange to say, but imprisoned though she was, she felt freer here with him than she had back home. The only thing she truly missed was the sunlight. 

Cleo sighed, as she remembered seeing the sun in the morning when it had shone through her balcony windows in Athens, lighting up her room, and the way it had felt when it bathed her skin in its glorious golden rays. 

THUMP! THUMP!

The thundering noise of the Minotaur’s hooves reached her ears, as he approached the lair. She looked up from their bed as his silhouette appeared in the shadows, his giant body walking through the archway and into their home, carrying its net loaded once again with numerous rats. 

She smiled as he dropped the net down by the fire and made his way over to her. His eyes looked at her in concern, but she waved him off. “I’m fine. I’m a little tired; that’s all,” she said. 

He didn’t look convinced, as he knelt down beside her. She then felt his hand, as he brushed it against her forehead and stroked her hair. She sighed, as his touch caressed her neck, and then moved down to her lower body, stroking her arms and chest. 

A low moan escaped her lips, as he gently fondled her breasts; stroking, squeezing and massaging them. When she did that, he acted pleased, as he had long since recognised that noise as one of pleasure. While he had proven he was more than just a mere beast, he was still a long way from being human. 

He continued his caresses of her, as he fingered her nipples with his large finger until he finally stopped. She knew why even before she opened her eyes, as it was late in the day, and he had not taken her to bed yet. Sure enough, she opened her eyes just as he lifted himself off the floor and stood over her. He then jostled the buckle of his pants at her, followed by the signalling clap of his fist in his hand. 

“Doesn’t take much to get you going, does it?” she murmured half-sarcastically, but then sighed and moved around to look at him, exposing her body to him. She was still tired and a bit weak, but felt a need for his touch. His red eyes lit up and he gave an almost joyful grunt, as he dropped his pants and once more knelt down, dropping his head between her legs. 

Cleo moaned, as she felt his tongue lick and explore her opening. She tugged at the rags and cloaks on the bed, clenching her fists as his tongue stiffened and headed up into her, and then...it stopped. 

At first she thought he was going to do something new, but then she felt his tongue slide out of her, and moved away from her. She looked up and saw him as he sat up on his knees, looking down on her with what appeared to be a look of confusion and concern. 

“What’s wrong?” she asked in honest confusion, even though she knew he couldn’t talk. She had never known him to stop in mid-play before, as usually it would take the lightning bolt of Zeus himself to stop him once he was in his mating frenzy. 

He stared down at her, his expression telling her nothing. Several minutes passed, and still he did nothing but stare. “What is it?!” she asked in near exasperation. She rarely raised her voice to him, but his silence and constant staring was driving her mad. 

He said nothing of course, but just looked at her with that baleful stare of his, before he reached down and touched her belly. She was usually ticklish there, but his touch was so soft and gentle, even more so than usual, that she barely felt it. He circled her stomach with his finger before laying his hand flat against it. He then did a most curious thing; he lowered his head and kissed it. 

Not once, in all the time they had been together, had the Minotaur ever kissed her before. He licked her yes, and even brushed his Bovine lips against parts of her skin, but never once had he kissed. Until now she hadn’t believed he even knew what kissing was. 

“What is it?” she asked again. “Why are you…?” She suddenly stopped as a thought entered her head. “It can’t be…” she stuttered, as she remembered she had been feeling unwell lately, and more importantly what her symptoms were. 

The Minotaur raised his head again, and once more looked at her, his expression hard to read. He then raised his hand to point at her, and then pointed at himself, and then at her belly. Although simple and primitive, his actions spoke louder than words ever could. And as Cleo remembered the symptoms she had been suffering, they proved to her the undeniable truth. 

She felt like her head was in a whirlpool. She didn’t even acknowledge the Minotaur as it started petting her again by stroking her long hair. She briefly wondered how he could have known. Maybe he could tell by her scent, or perhaps he noticed something while he tasted her, or maybe he had some kind of mind powers that she was as of yet unaware? Either way he had known, and now so did she. 

The proof was all there for her; the Minotaur stopping his mounting of her for the very first time since their meeting, the nausea she felt first thing in the morning, and her almost constant tiredness. They all pointed to the same thing. The Minotaur had stopped his mounting of her for the simple reason… He had not wanted to risk harming the life of the one inside of her. 

Cleo was with child! 

 

To Be Continued…


	3. Chapter 3

CHAPTER THREE

 

Several days passed, and Cleo was bored silly. There was no other word for it. She hadn’t realised how much time the sex with the Minotaur had taken up until it was gone. Now her days were spent waking up, waiting for the Minotaur to go and collect more rats, and cook them for him. 

With the exception of the cooking, she would mostly just sit idly by doing nothing, with maybe the odd hour when she would try teaching the Minotaur how to draw in the dirt. Her days were filled with constant boredom, but bored as she was she knew she didn’t have it nearly as bad as he did. 

Despite him clearly showing human intelligence at times, like when he stopped himself from mounting her when he realised she was with child, he was still more beast than man. Every day she watched him as he paced the floor of his lair, pawing the ground with his hooves as though getting ready to charge, snorting heavily in a state of agitation. She supposed she couldn’t blame him. After spending most of his life alone, and finally getting someone with whom he could vent his lust on day after day, he was suddenly forced to stop. That would be frustrating on any male, and considering his beast-half, it must be even more frustrating on him. 

“Baby…” she murmured quietly. No matter how many times she said it in her mind, it still refused to acknowledge it. She was going to have a baby, and it was going to be a monster! 

The moment she thought that she took it back. Although the Minotaur still terrified her at times, like now as he was pacing and snorting, he had shown her he was more than just a mere beast. He could have killed her at any time, yet despite his bestial urges, he showed her he could be gentle and treat her with a deep kindness. So no, whatever he might be she knew he was no monster, and the child she carried in her would not be one either. 

‘Unless I weren’t here…’ she suddenly thought worriedly. If she was to die and the baby would be left with only its father to raise it, it could grow up just as fierce and savage as the Minotaur. And gods knew what would happen if she weren’t here to calm the Minotaur’s rage?! She shuddered as she once more remembered how he had gorged himself on the flesh of his human victims. But if Hades were to take her soul to the underworld, leaving him alone once more, then what? Anything could go wrong with the birth, and this child was part Minotaur so obviously it would not be a mere human baby. Her body may not be able to deal with the stress of the birth. 

Cleo chewed on her lower lip in worry and fear. There was nothing she could do, though. It was all in the hands of the gods now. She could only pray that they would watch out for her and her unborn child. 

“RRRROOOARRRRR!!!” 

The roar of the Minotaur shook her, and she gasped as she watched him charge forth into the wall, his long horns slicing through the brickwork, and his head smashing through it harder than a battering ram. She thought for sure he would be knocked unconscious, but instead he pulled his head out as though he had just rammed it through a clothesline, shook it a few times and started pacing again. 

Apparently, his frustration had grown even greater tonight, as she watched him in fear and awe. His hooves were still pawing at the ground, looking like he was getting ready for another charge. And a few moments later that was just what he did, as he rammed himself straight at the other wall. His horns broke through the wall, but the rest of his body did not follow, most likely because he had been weakened from his previous ram. 

As he moved about, still pawing at the ground, she noticed the huge bulge in his pants. Obviously he was taking to his new chastity life worse than she thought he would. 

As he aimed himself at yet another wall, she got up and hurried over to him, frightened that if he continued then he might smash his head in. She reached up and took hold of his massive bicep, stroking his coarse fur and speaking in a soft tone to try and ease him. Unfortunately, even her soft voice could not faze him, as he snatched his arm away from her, pushing her back and getting ready to charge again. Scared and desperate, Cleo hurried to think of what to do. Of course she knew what was wrong with him, but there was nothing she could do about it, so long as she was with child. 

Or was there? 

She reached out again and touched not the Minotaur’s arm or bicep, but his crotch, and with her delicate fingers she began stroking and caressing it. The moment she did, she felt the organ pulse and grow even larger beneath the material, and the Minotaur finally stopped and stood still. She looked up, and saw him as he stood where he was silently, a curious look upon his face. As she guided her fingers up and down his shaft, she heard low grunts of approval emitting from him. She then reached out with her other hand and once more took hold of his bicep, and gently tugged him toward her. 

“Follow me and lie down here,” she told him gently. “I promise you, I’ll help you.” The Minotaur did as he was told, and walked a little further to the side of the room where their bed was. When they got there, she tugged at his pants, indicating him to remove them, which he did. After that he then lay down on his back, on the pile of rags that served as their bed, with his knees bent up and spread apart. 

As she moved between his legs, she eyed his huge member once more in awe. No matter how many times she saw it, she still could not believe its size. She mentally shook herself, and went to kneel between his legs, both of them bent up and looming on either side of her. It felt like she was sitting in-between two large hills. She ran her fingers once more up and down his penis, listening to his beastly moans as she did. 

The Minotaur lay with his head tilted backwards, enjoying the rubbing sensation that his mate (for that was what she was to him) gave him. It felt good, though, it wasn’t much compared to what he was used to when he usually mated with her. Of course, that changed a minute later. 

Cleo bent her head forward and pressed her face against the Minotaur’s balls, and stuck her tongue out, licking them. The Minotaur gave a sharp gasp, as she licked his sac before opening her mouth wide and taking one of them in. His balls were massive; one filled her entire mouth, but she took it in regardless and began sucking, while her hand gently fondled the other. He moaned and snorted, as his hands tightly gripped the rags of the bed, while he felt her tongue lick his testicle as though giving it a loving caress. 

His scent was so strong that it almost made her choke, but she let it consume her like the steam from a sauna, as she made low gurgling noises while trying desperately to get as much of his testicle inside her. “Ulp-gulp-mmm-ulp…!” She licked, sucked and even kissed it, tasting it like she would a delicious spice, while her hand massaged his one ball, squeezing it ever so gently. 

The Minotaur growled in pleasure, his penis now rock hard and standing fully erect. Cleo could practically feel the strain in him. She knew he wanted to take her right now; to mount her and mate with her as fiercely and savagely as he had done many times before, and which she partly desired also. But at the same time she knew he was fighting hard not to do so, for fear of hurting his unborn offspring. If the size of his member didn’t damage her, it would definitely do it to their baby. The tip of it would go right up into her womb and no doubt make her miscarry. But he was still part beast, and right now the instincts and sexual urges of his beast-half were overcoming his humanity. In a way she had made it worse, but she was not yet finished. 

She licked her tongue all the way up to his tip, and then rolled it around the sensitive part, tasting the dark mushroom of his shaft. The Minotaur’s legs looked like they wanted to wrap themselves around her, but by sheer force of will he did not. She then leaned back and placed her chest up to him, and cupped her breasts on either side of his penis. She pressed them hard together, cocooning him inside them, enveloping his penis as if in an embrace, and then began thrusting her body forth and up, sliding his manhood up and down in-between them. 

The Minotaur moaned and placed his gigantic hands on the sides of her head. He didn’t crush her, thankfully, but gently patted her head while making deep moans of contentment. 

Pausing only for a second, she bent her head low and took in the head of his penis as far into her mouth as she could. She instantly began thrusting forth and upward again, as his member slid up between her breasts and into her mouth, her tongue licking him clean. His hands at that point then began to grip her head harder, as he made deep grunts while thrusting his own hips, forcing more of him into her. 

Cleo moaned, too, though hers were more in despair. She understood the Minotaur’s feelings now, as her own body wanted nothing more at that point than to stand up and lower herself down onto him, to bury his manhood into her. But she knew she could not, much as she wanted to. Besides, this was more about giving him satisfaction than it was giving hers. 

His penis thrust up high, going all the way to the back of her throat, nearly choking her, but she bore the brunt. Her breasts were sleek with sweat and saliva from her own licks of his body, as his member slid up and down. She could feel the veins on him almost popping out on her breasts. His hands clamped around her like a vice, as his grunts grew into near roars. Still he forced her to go on, and she did not refuse by thrusting herself faster. 

His penis felt like a forge about to explode with the pressure. She licked, sucked, thrust and moaned, as his animalistic grunts grew higher with each pitch. Faster and faster she went until finally… 

“ROOOAARRRR!!!” The Minotaur’s roar filled the whole Labyrinth, as his hands pushed her head down one final time, forcing his member right up into her mouth and down her throat, followed by the release of the salty sweet taste of his seed. It flowed up from his penis, hosed into her mouth, and flooded down her throat, coming out in such a force that even the largest waterfall in all Greece could not compare. 

His semen came out in such a load and speed that her mouth could not take it. It burst out, squirting down her throat, and the load that could not make it squeezed through the narrow space left in her mouth, pushing out of the sides of her lips. When the Minotaur’s semen finally stopped, he gave a long and huge sigh and removed his hands from her, and when she pulled her head up and the head of his penis slid out of her mouth, it was quickly followed by a large gloop of semen that burst out. She turned her head and leaned over, vomiting his seed to the side. 

The Minotaur tilted his head backward, heaving large breaths of exhaustion and content, while Cleo coughed up the last of his seed from her throat. Clearly he was satisfied, which was a relief to her, as at least for now his bestial urges were under control. Though it did nothing for her. Her own body was now in a state of heat, but there was nothing she could do about it except bear it. 

She heaved and sighed for a few minutes, partly because of her own exhaustion and partly because of her lust, while she worked to clean the Minotaur’s penis. As she worked, the Minotaur raised his head to look down at her between his legs. Perhaps he could smell the pheromones in her, or maybe he just understood what she was going through after having gone through it himself, but he could see the desire in her, as he stared in pity. 

He then lifted his hands again, and gripped her shoulders. She gasped a little in surprise, as he lifted her up and brought her over to his head. His face was turned upward, as he lowered her down on him, sitting her astride him and balancing her on his snout. 

“Wha…?” she started, but then gave a loud moan, as the Minotaur’s huge tongue suddenly slipped out and entered her. “Ohhhh…!” His tongue, larger than any man’s penis but still not quite as huge as his own, slid up into her opening. 

“Uhhh…” moaned Cleo. She sat still for a minute, enjoying the feel as his slimy organ moved inside her, flicking her clitoris and sliding further up into her, before she began pumping her hips forward. The Minotaur held onto her thighs, pulling her down, as he pushed the tip of his snout directly into her opening, thrusting his tongue straight up. It moved and wriggled about inside of her, as she rode him for several minutes, her hips thrusting crazily as though she were riding a wild stallion. She bit her lower lip, as her body began to quicken and she felt the beginnings of a wild climax coming. 

The Minotaur’s fingers bit into her legs so hard that they felt they could break any minute, as he pulled and lifted her down on him, his tongue reaching up so far into her that she could feel its tip prodding from the inside of her belly. 

“Oh…ohhh…OHHH!!!” she screamed, as her body came with the force of a hurricane. 

The Minotaur continued lapping up her juices from inside her, as she collapsed on him, her body falling past his massive head. Her breaths came out in shallow gasps, as she laid on the ground in-between his horns. While the sex today had not been as wild as it was with his usual organ, it had still been more than sufficient. 

The Minotaur then lifted her up again, as he pulled his tongue out of her and carried her down his body until her head reached his chest, and he laid her down. She smiled contently, as she snuggled into his masculine chest, and his muscular arm wrapped around her and nestled on her back. She reached out and gently stroked his snout, but he was already snoozing in a deep contended sleep. 

Apparently, she had now found a way to satisfy his bestial urges without the risk of harming her baby. 

0000000000

Months passed, though how many there were Cleo knew not. The eternal darkness in the Labyrinth did nothing to tell her how much time passed in the outside world. The only clue was the large roundness of her belly, now beyond gigantic proportions, indicating the child within her was near full term. 

She groaned, as she tried getting up from the floor. The worst thing, she decided, of being with child was the constant weight it put on her, making daily chores a near impossibility. When she was lying on her back, the baby was practically crushing her, and obviously she could not lie on her stomach, no matter how much she wished. And getting up was a chore in itself. 

She moaned as she tried unsuccessfully to stand, and was close to quitting, when a giant hand reached down and took her own hand gently, and pulled her up effortlessly. 

She smiled up at the Minotaur, as he looked down in concern at her. During the last few months, when moving about had started to become difficult for her, he had taken it upon himself to help her more around the lair. He was constantly watching her, ready to help her if she needed him. The only time when he wasn’t around was when he had to go and hunt for food, and he would only do that when she was sleeping. 

“I’m fine,” said Cleo. “Just a little tired. And I miss getting up by myself.” She laughed a little at the last part, a bit of dry humour, though the Minotaur said or did nothing. Despite all the months together, he had yet to display any sign of understanding her words, or being able to speak himself. She supposed that his bestial half was the more dominant half in that perspective, as he obviously seemed incapable of speech, or laughter. 

Still holding her hand, he gently led her across the room to where the fire was. He had just come back from his hunt, and cooking the rats was the only thing she was still able to do without any problem. 

“Thank you,” she said gratefully. “But I am capable of walking across the lair without help. My strength is not that far gone, and I...”

Suddenly, the Minotaur stopped. He froze where he was as his ears pricked up, as though he was listening to something, and his snout turned upwards as he sniffed the air. His actions made even her pause, as she had never once seen him act this way. 

“What’s wrong?” she asked, even though she knew she wouldn’t get a response. 

He then walked back over to his throne, and picked up his triton and net that he kept there. But why was he taking those? He had already gone hunting today. 

“What are you…?” she started to ask, but the Minotaur snapped his head to the side to look at her, making her pause. The look in his eyes made her feel somewhat uneasy. It was the same kind of look she had seen on him once back when they first met. 

Those last thoughts suddenly made Cleo think, as she remembered the day they had first met, the day she had been brought here to Crete, to be sacrificed, along with… 

“Oh no…” she said in a low breath, as she finally realised what was wrong with him. His ears were pricked up because he could hear something that he normally wouldn’t hear in the Labyrinth, and his nose was inhaling because he could smell something new down here, too. 

There were strangers in the Labyrinth! 

In all the months spent down here in the dark, with no way of telling what day it was, she had long since lost track of time, but as she now thought about it, her mind started to calculate the time. She was now almost full term with her child, which was over 9 months, and she had been with the Minotaur for at least a couple of months before that, which meant…at least a year had passed since she had arrived here! 

‘No, not at least,’ she thought, as she finally realised. “It has been a year; an exact year since the Cretans came to Athens for their last sacrifice. That means that…’ 

“The time for the next sacrifice is here,” she deduced finally, speaking out her last thoughts. The Cretans had been to Athens and brought back the next 14 young people to be sacrificed to the Minotaur, and the Minotaur could hear them now in the Labyrinth. 

The Minotaur walked over to the lair’s entrance, his triton and net in his hands. He looked as though he were going for another hunt, as per usual; only this time she knew it was not rats that he was seeking. 

“No!” she cried out, rushing over to him. “Please I beg you, Minotaur; leave my countrymen be! If you stay here and not attack, they won’t do the same to you!”

Wouldn’t they, though? Cleo remembered a year ago when she and the rest of her fellow sacrifices had arrived at the Labyrinth; how they had all eventually spilt up until only she remained, and when she later saw all their bodies ripped apart and scattered across the Labyrinth’s blood-soaked floor, swords in each of their hands, and how she had at first attempted to take up a sword and fight against the man-beast she now called her mate. When she first saw the Minotaur, she had had no desire for friendship or peaceful co-existence. All she had felt back then had been fear, panic and an instinct to fight and kill him, to protect herself. Would these new Athenians really be any different?   
Maybe the Minotaur already knew the answer, as he was already going out through the archway. After all, he had years of experience dealing with countless other people who had been dumped into his prison/home, and how each meeting with them had gone before; always with them trying to kill him. And now it would be even direr, as before he had only been protecting himself, but now he had a mate and child to protect, so his urge to fight and kill would be even stronger. 

“Minotaur, wait!” she called, but he was already through the archway, with his loud hoof-steps already fading into the distance. “Don’t…” Suddenly, she gasped as a sharp pain wrenched through her mid-section. She clutched her swollen stomach, and then felt a dampness flow out of her opening. 

“Oh no,” she said between shallow breaths. Her water had broken. The baby was on its way!

“Mino…” she tried to call out, but already the contractions were starting, as yet another agonising pain wrenched through her. She fell to the floor, clutching her belly and trying to breathe her way through the pain. After a few minutes of gritting her teeth, she forced herself up and slowly crawled over to the bed-corner. The pain of the contractions made it hard, though, as she forever had to stop to rest. 

‘This is too fast,’ she thought. She remembered when her mother had had her younger sister, and couldn’t remember the birth starting this quickly. But she put that out of her mind for now, as she had more important things to worry about. When she eventually got over to the bed, she lay down on the rags and started breathing heavily again. Almost immediately another contraction came, and she bit her lower lip in agony. 

“I can do this…I can do this…” she whispered to herself, again and again, as though in an attempt to try and convince herself. “I can do this. I can do this…”

Tilting her head backward, she steeled herself for the next upcoming contraction, prepared for the birth. 

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“AAAARRRGHHH!” Cleo’s screams tore through the ceiling of the Labyrinth, as her child passed through her nether regions, about to enter the world. This birth was definitely coming much faster than what was considered normal, but then again she knew nothing about how the birth of a Minotaur was meant to be. 

She had been in labour for over an hour now, but still the Minotaur was nowhere to be seen. But then again, she figured that searching the whole Labyrinth for what he saw as intruders would undoubtedly take some time. 

“AAAOOOOAAWWW!!!” she screamed, gripping the rags of her bed tightly and biting through her lower lip until she tasted blood. She felt a large shape pass through her legs, followed by an agony even greater than before, and then…nothing. 

Cleo lay where she was, panting in exhaustion, as the sweat flow from her like she was a human waterfall. She wanted to pass out, as her body felt stretched out and near death. He almost did for a moment, but then she heard it; that sweet crying sound. 

From beyond her sight, lying between her legs where it had just entered the word, she heard the unmistakable cries of a new-born. Forcing herself, she lifted her arms and struggled to pull herself up. When she did, she finally caught sight of her baby for the first time. 

Its sound was that of a human baby, but that was the only thing human about it. The infant was a near replica of its father; with the head of a calf, hooves instead of feet, and grey fur that covered most of its body. The only thing that separated it from its father was that it had no horns (most likely because it was a baby), no tail, and its eyes were brown like hers, instead of the burning red orbs that the Minotaur had. It was smaller than she had expected it to be, which was no doubt the reason why it hadn’t torn her up during the birth, but it was still bigger than any human babe. 

She stayed where she was for a few minutes, looking down on her child with mixed feelings. She knew she shouldn’t be surprised, as she had known there was no chance that the child would be human, considering who its father was. Yet during her pregnancy she supposed she had just pushed it to the back of her mind, and not thought about it much. The baby was ugly, as there was no denying that; a mixture of human and beast. 

‘Was this how the Minotaur’s mother, the Cretan queen, had felt when he was born?’ she thought. She supposed so, as had all the rest of Crete. And she knew what that revulsion had led to; spurned at birth, and sealed alive in this Labyrinth, condemned to live in darkness! 

The baby’s cries grew louder, as it lay before her, cold and wet. That woke her from her thought, and she bent over to pick up some rags to wrap it up in. As she did, she noticed something else. 

“It’s a boy,” she said, smiling as she finished bundling the child and gently picked it up. The moment she did, its cries ceased, and it looked up at her with innocent curiosity in its wide open eyes. When it did that, she felt like crying. “I have a son,” she said, gathering him into her arms and holding him close to her bosom. The baby snuggled into her embrace, basking in the warmth and affection. 

‘It doesn’t matter,’ she reminded herself. ‘So he’s not human; so what? The Minotaur has already shown that there is more to him than mindless savagery, and if he can display affection after the life he’s had, then so will my child with me in his life!’ 

Yet part of her was still sad, for she knew her child will unlikely ever have a life outside the walls of the Labyrinth. It would never see the sky, feel the sun, run through forests and meadows of grass, or play on the beach. And the terrible part about that was that it was probably a good thing. She was this baby’s mother, and even her first impression of it had been revulsion. If she was like that then there was no chance for the people outside. Her child would undoubtedly be spurned and spit on for the rest of its life, and, like its father, hunted down and imprisoned or killed. Humanity, she realised, had no love for creatures and beings different from its own. 

At that moment, the stress of the birth finally took its toll on her, and she felt her head swimming with a dizziness of deep fatigue. She lay back down with her son on her chest, who had now also mercifully fallen asleep, and the moment her head hit the pillow of rags she fell into a dreamless slumber. 

So deep was her slumber, though, that in the hours to come she did not hear the sounds of the Minotaur’s roars echoing throughout the Labyrinth, together with the clashing of a sword against bone. 

0000000000

When she next awoke, the fire had died down to mere ashes, so she lifted herself up with her son still snuggled into her bosom, and went over to relight it. As she did, she noticed that the Minotaur had still not returned. 

She bit her fingers in worry, and bent her head in grief and fear. Was he still out scouring the Labyrinth for those of her country who had sent here to be sacrificed in his name? Had any of the victims been friends of hers? Maybe even members of her own family?! 

Part of her wanted to go out and search for him still, to see if she could stop the needless bloodshed that would happen once he and those of her homeland met, but she knew it was pointless. She had to have been asleep for hours for the fire to have died down, and the Minotaur knew this Labyrinth like the back of his own hand. He surely must have found them all by now. 

“Why didn’t he just stay here with me?” she whimpered aloud. “I could have…” Suddenly she stopped and realised something. Just as she had now thought; the Minotaur had lived in the Labyrinth all his life, and no doubt knew every turn and corner, and it had been hours now since her son’s birth, and before that it had taken her another hour to get through the birth. There was no way it would have taken the Minotaur that long to find those who had no clue of the layout of this accursed Labyrinth. 

It was possible that the newcomers were still in the midst of battling him, which was why he was still not back yet, but… Something was wrong! She didn’t know how, but deep down she knew that something was not right. 

She bundled her son closer to her, hugging him tight as she warmed herself by the fire. However, the flames brought no warmth to her; only worry filled her heart. 

She stayed in the lair for another hour until finally she could stand it no more. The silence of the Labyrinth was now driving her insane. She stood up, with her son in her arms, and went to grab a torch that lay somewhere on the floor, lit it in the fire, and walked up to the archway that led out of the Minotaur’s lair. But as she stood by the exit, she hesitated. Despite having lived a full year in the Labyrinth, she still knew no more of its layout and structure than she had done the first day she had arrived. The Minotaur had always taken her when she had ventured out of the lair. 

Swallowing her fear, and knowing that she couldn’t stay there any longer without finding out what had happened to her companion and mate, Cleo carried her son out of the Minotaur’s lair. 

0000000000

She wandered around aimlessly for a good hour, with her torch being the one source of light, but with no luck. She had even tried calling out for anyone to hear her, but there was no answer. 

The torch was dying down, but she had brought some rags with her to help relit it when needed. The thought of being stuck out in the Labyrinth, alone with her son in the dark, so far from the lair, terrified her to no end, even more so than now. Even though the Minotaur was the only real danger in the Labyrinth, and one that did not even threaten her, Cleo still found the darkness of the maze frightening. Every corner she took, she kept expecting to come face to face with a new monster. 

As the torch died down some more, she took one of the rags and wrapped it around the flames, rekindling them. She bit down the frustration in her, as she had no idea where she was or where she was going! She could spend days going round in circles, and still be no closer to finding the Minotaur or some of her countrymen. 

Then, just as she felt like throwing the torch down in anger, she suddenly noticed something lying on the floor, right by the wall. It looked like a thin thread. Curious, she reached down to pick it up, and sure enough it was indeed a line of thread. She held it up, trying to find where the source was, but the line was long and seemed to go all the way around the corner and beyond. 

With no other option open to her, Cleo held onto her torch and son, and followed the thread, keeping her hand on it at all times. It led her through the Labyrinth, pass endless archways and around numerous corners, until finally she reached the end. 

‘One of the sacrificial victims brought here must have used this thread as a means to find their way around the Labyrinth,’ she deduced, as she continued following it into a small lair, not unlike the Minotaur’s home, but with no light or piles of weapons, bones or such anywhere. She inwardly praised whoever it was for their thinking, yet wondered where they could have got the thread from, as she remembered the Cretan guards not allowing them to take anything with them into the maze when she was brought here. 

‘They obviously must have smuggled it with them,’ she thought as she walked into the new lair. ‘Though how they…’ 

She stopped. At first all she could do was stand there at the entrance into the new lair, her mind a near blank as she stood with her torch illuminating the room, staring at the scene before her. There lying before her was the Minotaur, his body lying in a pool of his own blood. He was lying on his back with his left hand over his belly, with blood flowing out from between his giant fingers and down the sides of his body.

“No…” she whispered, the torch slipping from her fingers and landing on the floor, rolling to a stop. “No!” She raced over to the Minotaur’s body, hugging her son tightly. The light from the torch barely illuminated his face, as he lay still before her. 

She placed her son down beside her, and pulled the Minotaur’s hand away from his belly, to inspect his wound; a large stab-wound straight through his gut. Worse still, was that as she looked at him closer, she found his horns to be missing; having been sawn off at the stumps. Obviously, one of the sacrificial victims must have fought him when they crossed paths, and somehow bested him in battle. They had most likely taken and kept the horns as a trophy. The thought sickened and angered her, even though she knew it was the way of all warriors. 

Cleo wept, as she lay her mate’s hand down again. 

“Why?” she whimpered. “Why didn’t you listen to me and just stay in the lair?!” Her thoughts were filled with grief, anger and fear. Grief that the man-beast that she had come to call her friend and mate was now dead, anger that he had refused to listen and remain with her instead of facing and fighting the new sacrifices, and fear that with him now gone she was all alone in the Labyrinth with their son, alone in the darkness. The very thought terrified her more than when she had first come to the Labyrinth and thought the Minotaur would kill her. 

“What will I do?” she said as she held onto his hand. “How will I cope? How will our son…?” Suddenly, as if by magic, the Minotaur’s hand squeezed hers in return. 

Cleo squealed in fright as the Minotaur awoke and took a large rasping breath, as though he had just been pulled back across the River Styx itself. Till her final day, Cleo never knew how he could have survived for so long in the dark with his wound, and could only guess that the gods had kept him alive just long enough for her to find him. 

“Minotaur!” she cried out, and squeezed the large finger of his hand. For one moment she thought maybe he would survive; that the gods had granted him mercy. “Keep still. I’ll bind your wound. I’ll…”

He suddenly coughed up a load of blood from his throat, some of which splattered on her, but she took no notice, as she grabbed some cloth and held it to his wound in a desperate attempt to bind it, even though the blood surrounding him indicated that nothing she could do would help him now. 

“Asclepius, god of healing, please help me,” she prayed aloud. Alas, though, the blood seeped through the cloth she held on him as though it weren’t even there. “Great gods, hear me!” she cried out in anguish. “Don’t let him die like this!” She couldn’t allow this to happen. The Minotaur had spent his entire life in darkness, repulsed and feared by all, and yet had been her friend, mate and companion. He was the only thing that had kept her from going insane in this accursed Labyrinth. After all his suffering, he couldn’t die like this! 

But the more she tried to help, the more futile she realised it was. Even if she had the knowledge and surgical tools, the wound was beyond the help that any healer could give him. 

She wept bitter tears of defeat, yet still continued to try and hold back his blood from escaping, if only to keep hoping. But then suddenly her cries were interrupted by the cries of her son who had just awoken because of her yelling.

Hearing his cry, she briefly released the Minotaur’s hand and went to grab her son, holding him close, and then holding him up to the Minotaur’s face. “It’s a boy,” she said quietly. She knew she was no longer holding his wound, but it made no difference. His death was now sadly inevitable. “You have a son.” 

The Minotaur’s eyes opened slightly wider, as he gazed at his offspring. She noticed his hand trying valiantly to raise, no doubt to touch his son, but alas he just did not have the strength. So she placed her son on his chest, and then took his hand and laid it across her shoulders, as though he were hugging her. 

“Ass…” a voice spoke softly, making Cleo jump. Her first thought was that whoever had attacked the Minotaur was still there, but when she looked around she could see no one. 

“Ass…” the voice started to say again, and it was then that Cleo suddenly realised with absolute shock that it was coming from none other than the Minotaur himself. For the first time since arriving in the Labyrinth, he was speaking to her! 

“Minotaur,” she whispered in disbelief, lowering her face to his, to better hear him. “It’s all right, I’m here. Everything’s going to be okay.” She said that as though she believed it, though she knew it were impossible. 

“Ass…” he said again, his eyes ignoring her for the moment, as they stayed centred on their son. She didn’t know what he was trying to say, but at that moment she didn’t care. All she knew was that for the moment he was alive, and she was not alone. 

“This is our son,” she told him, lifting and holding their child closer to his face, for him to see better. “You have a son. Isn’t that wonderful?!” He didn’t say anything at that point, but she noticed huge tears begin to weep from his eyes, as he stared at the baby Minotaur lying on his chest. 

“Ass-terius…” he said finally, and Cleo heard him. She recognised the word he was saying as a name; one she had heard once or twice in her life. “Asterius!”

“Asterius?” she replied. “You want that to be his name?” He gave no reply, but just momentarily closed his eyes, seemingly tired. “Okay. Yes. From this day forth, that shall be his name. You as his father have that right to name him. His name is Asterius!”

The Minotaur opened his eyes again, and looked at her, and she felt his arm tighten around her, pulling her close to him. “Pro-tect…” he breathed out. It was a simple single word, yet one that she understood all too well. 

“You have my word,” she promised. “He will come to no harm. I swear by almighty Zeus!” 

The Minotaur then gave another sharp jolt, and breathed his last before closing his eyes for the last time, the air escaping his mouth in a final long breath, and his arm falling from her back and landing with a loud thud on the ground. And then, there was no sound but the crackling of the torch’s flames, leaving the room in eerie silence. 

Cleo sat there for a few minutes, sitting in stunned silence, as her mind tried to comprehend that the Minotaur was now gone; dead and gone forever. It was only the whimpered cries of her son that brought her back to the world of the living, as she carefully lifted him from his father’s corpse, holding him close but still staring at her friend and mate’s body. She didn’t cry. She couldn’t allow herself to, as she feared that once she started she wouldn’t be able to stop. The only thing she could do at that moment was reach into her skirt and pull out a single coin. 

She had had the coin since coming to the Labyrinth. She had kept it hidden on her body, sometimes in the sole of her sandal, or sometimes in her bosom, but always on her. All of the other sacrifices had had coins as well, as it was tradition that a Greek be buried with one, so that their souls could carry it with them to the River Styx, to pay Charon the ferryman to take their souls to the afterlife in the underworld. To not have one meant Charon would leave your soul to wander the shores between life and death forever. 

She didn’t know whether or not the Minotaur was bound by the same laws of death as mortals were, but he was borne of a mortal woman, and she didn’t want to take any risks. He had already suffered far too much in life for him to suffer in death as well, so she placed the coin in his mouth and said a little prayer. “Great Hades, I commit the soul of this tortured but loving creature to your hands. Grant him the peace he couldn’t find in life.”

She stayed silent for a few minutes longer, and then finally she stood with her son in her arms and slowly turned and walked away. She only stopped when she came by the torch, still lying on the ground where she had dropped it, and stooped down to pick it up, before continuing to exit through the same passage that she had entered the room through. She stopped for a moment at the archway, wanting to turn and look once more at the Minotaur’s body, but stopped herself. It was said that if you turned to look back at the deceased’s corpse while leaving their tomb, you would be inviting their soul to come back with you. 

She swallowed the lump in her throat, and carried on out until she left the room and its sole occupant in permanent darkness. 

 

To Be Continued…


	4. Chapter 4

CHAPTER FOUR

 

As Cleo walked out of the room that now served as the tomb and final resting place for the Minotaur’s body, she found herself starting to panic. What was she going to do?! She was now alone in the Labyrinth, with no one but her son. How was she going to cope? How would they eat without the Minotaur around to help hunt for food? 

These and a million other frantic thoughts kept flooding through her mind, as she struggled to hold onto her sanity. Her only comfort was the embrace of her son, as she carried him through the maze’s dark corridors. It was only then that she remembered one other problem, which was…how were they going to get back to the lair?! Without the Minotaur there to guide them, Cleo had no way of navigating the Labyrinth. They were lost. 

She started to hyperventilate, as she breathed out in shallow breaths. The torch would not last much longer, and then they would be stuck in permanent darkness. “Great gods help me!” she prayed in desperation. “Please don’t forsake us! Don’t leave us to die here alone in the dark!” 

As her panic grew, her child seemed to pick up on it and started to cry. She focused briefly on him, jostling him softly in her arm. “There, there,” she cooed. “Everything’s going to be alright. I promise I…” It was then that she suddenly remembered; the thread! 

She looked down, and sure enough the thin line of thread that had brought her to the Minotaur was still there, lying on the ground up against the wall. She reached down and managed to pick it up, despite her hands being full with the torch and her son, and held onto it as though it were a life-line from the Fates. She then started to gently slip the thread through her fingers, as she walked and followed it through the Labyrinth. She hadn’t originally found the thread until some time after she had left the lair, and all the passages in the Labyrinth looked alike to her, so it was doubtful it would lead her back there, but at least it was something. 

After some time, she knew not how long, she finally came to the end of the thread, which was tied to a huge handle of a massive iron door; a door she remembered all too well. 

All Cleo could do then was stand there with her son and torch in her hands, and stare at the thing that she had not seen in a full year and had never expected to ever see again; the door that was both the entrance into the Labyrinth, and its exit! 

Eventually, she dropped the thread and the torch, which rolled onto the ground still lit, coming to a stop at one of the walls. She clutched her son protectively, as she slowly reached up to the door and pushed it forward. She hadn’t really been expecting it to open, as the Cretan guards had naturally locked it after throwing her and the other sacrifices into the Labyrinth, but again she was surprised when the door slowly inched open. 

Her son Asterius whimpered slightly, so she paused for a moment as she comforted him until his cries stilled and he drifted off back to sleep. She then pushed the door the rest of the way open, and her eyes were then met with the light of torches that lined the walls of the palace of Crete, indicating that it was obviously night-time. Surprisingly there were no guards outside the door, but at that moment Cleo did not care, as it was one less problem for her to worry about. 

The reason for the lack of guards was that news of the Minotaur’s death had already spread across Crete. The surviving sacrifices from Athens had escaped the Labyrinth, led by none other than their own prince, Theseus, who had now also fled Crete, though Cleo did not know this. With the death of the Minotaur, there was obviously no need to lock the entrance, nor any need for guards outside it. 

As the door shifted open, Cleo walked forth. Holding her son, she walked out the Labyrinth, her bare feet tiptoeing on the tiled floor, her eyes still alert for any sign of Minos’s guards to show up. There was little need, though, as the entrance to the Labyrinth was located deep in the lower chambers of the palace, away from its main halls and living quarters where people could see it. The only ones who would have seen it would have been the guards, and now they too were gone. 

Cleo sneaked up the stairs that led up to the palace’s higher chambers. The climb up was longer than anything she had endured so far that year, but she made it. As she reached the top, she looked around at the palace’s elegant tapestries, statues and vases that lined all down the corridors and hallways. Stepping forward slowly, she froze as the hard footsteps of what could only be armoured men started to echo closer from down the hall. 

She hugged her baby to her chest and ran behind one of the tapestries, folding it around herself to conceal her appearance. About a minute later, a small group of guards came marching down the hall, passing by her without a glance. The moment they passed, she heaved a sigh of relief and came out. She knew she had to get out of the palace quickly. 

It was hard to find her way out, as the palace was huge, and she had only been in it the one time when she and the others had first been brought here to be sacrificed to the Minotaur. She made more than one wrong turn, and more than often she would come around a corner only to find one or two sentries standing guard somewhere, causing her to rush back before they saw her and try another way. 

Eventually, she ended up in the servant’s work-places, in the laundry room. She was about to turn back, but then she realised that this might be a blessing in disguise. Even if she escaped, she would need some type of clothing to conceal her and her baby, so she ransacked some of the large laundry baskets, finding some long cloth. Pretty soon she had herself all wrapped in a long linen sheet that concealed her face and body, and a large woollen blanket that she wrapped securely around her son. 

After that, she did not have to go very far to find the exit, as there was a door from the laundry-room that led outside. She opened the door, stepped outside, and stopped. 

She was outside! There was a small growth of flowers that grew around the door, and some potted plants and trees on either side of the paved path that led down to what she assumed was the city, giving off a heavenly scent that she hadn’t realised she had sorely missed. But more importantly was what lay above! For as she looked up, she saw the countless stars and constellations shining down upon her, and just then a cool breeze blew onto her face. 

After a year trapped in utter darkness, with no light, no wind and no scent save for the earthen floor and the stench of blood and decay, she was free! The feeling of that washed over her, and till the day she died Cleo had never known such a moment of utter bliss and contentment. 

She didn’t know how much time had passed before she finally remembered where she was, and then quickly ran down the path that led to the smaller houses of the city. She passed by countless passageways that reminded her of the Labyrinth. Thankfully there were few people out, as it was late and everyone was most likely in bed. She rushed through the city until finally she ended up by the docking bays, where numerous fishing and sailing boats lay anchored and tied to their posts. 

It was here where she stopped again, as she suddenly realised that she had nowhere to go. Where could she go? She obviously couldn’t stay in Crete, as she was Athenian. And who knows what they would do with her baby if they saw him? Most likely they would take him and shut him down in the Labyrinth like they had done his father, and Crete would torment and mould another child into a monster. The same could be said about Athens; no way would she be welcomed home after bearing the offspring of the feared Minotaur. No doubt she and he would be put to death the instant they set foot on Athenian shore. 

Still, what choice had she? She couldn’t stay in Crete, so for now escaping there was priority. 

She picked out a small fishing boat, placed her son inside, quickly untied its rope from the dock, and then picked up the paddle and pushed off from shore. She paddled the boat onward until she was a fair distance out to sea, and then she unfurled the small sail that was in it, but after that she was stuck. Not only did she still have no idea of where to go, but she also had no experience in sailing. The boat was small and its sail fairly easy to manage, but Cleo had no way of knowing how to steer, even if she knew where to go. 

“What am I to do?” Cleo whimpered. “Where can I go? No one would dare take one who carries what they perceive as a monster in.” 

Hopeless and desperate, she stared into the waters of the sea and prayed aloud. “Great god Poseidon, ruler of the seas and shaker of the earth; I beseech you to hear and answer my prayer! Long ago you rightly punished the tyrant Minos by having his queen lay with the bull that you so generously gave him so that he may get his throne. In turn his queen gave birth to the Minotaur, the creature that many saw as a monster, but what I saw as a friend, mate and father to my child. That hurt and tortured beast now rests in your brother Hades’ kingdom, but his child lives on with me. I implore you, grant me your favour and help my son! We have flown Minos’s kingdom, but we are people without a country, in a world where we will be shunned and hunted.” 

Tears flowed down Cleo’s cheeks, and she allowed them to drop into the ocean, to show Poseidon her grief and desperation for help. “I ask for nothing for myself. My only wish is that my son be spared the horrors his father suffered and know only peace. I willingly commit my life and soul to you to save him. Please! Grant me this one favour!”

She finished her prayer and remained silent for a few minutes, hoping against hope that Poseidon would hear, but nothing happened. When her son started to cry again, she sighed and gave a small whimper of her own, but went to comfort him. She knew she should not have expected much, as the gods weren’t known for answering mortal’s prayers or helping them. But she had hoped that maybe Poseidon would, if only to help the child of the one that he himself had inadvertently created. 

She reached down to pick up Asterius, but before she had the chance to even fully lean over, a loud clash of lightning struck the sky, followed by a huge bellowing of thunder that shook the sea. Panicked, Cleo stood up and held onto the mast for dear life, but soon after that a strong wind started to blow; so strong it was that the sail almost broke off from the mast. The wind grew stronger and stronger, and the sea felt as though it were being churned like the waters in a boiling pot. 

‘Gods save me!’ she screamed in her mind, though she knew that prayer was pointless. It seemed to her that Poseidon had decided to grant her her request, and spare her son from the horrors of life, by slaying him right here and now. 

She tried in vain to steady the boat, but the wind was too strong. Asterius’ cries grew louder, as his little body was rocked from side to side from the thrashing of the sea. 

Feeling hopeless with what seemed like their end approaching, Cleo simply furled the sail and dropped it into the boat, and lay down next to her son, holding him steady in her arms and speaking softly to him with what might be her last words. “Be brave, my son. Perhaps this is best. At least this way you can be spared your father’s fate, and never know the darkness of the Labyrinth, or the cruelty of man.” 

The lightning clashed more across the sky with the thunder echoing after, and the wind picking up more and more speed. The boat tossed and turned with the sea, and to her dying day Cleo never could fathom what had stopped it from overturning, as she held onto her son tightly until she finally passed out. 

0000000000

The cawing of seagulls slowly reached her ears, as Cleo gradually came to, followed by the sound of waves crashing against the shore. As she opened her eyes, she was welcomed by the bright sunlight of the day. Her first thought was that she was in the Elysium Fields in Hades’ underworld, but that thought was soon rebuked by the feel of her wet clothes and the aches in her bones and head. The storm had left her banged about harshly in the boat. 

The storm! She quickly raised her head, ignoring the pain it brought her, and looked about. She was still in the boat, and found her son lying beside her, his large nostrils flaring in his sleep. He too was wet from the crashing of the waves during the storm, but was otherwise unharmed. 

Sighing in relief, she picked him up and looked around. The boat had been run ashore on some beach somewhere. She first thought the storm had washed them back onto the shores of Crete, but she saw no signs of human life anywhere. 

After inspecting the boat, she found that the storm had ripped the sails to shreds, and the interior of it was busted with water leaking in. No way would it sail again without repairs. So unless she could find anyone to help her, she was stranded here (wherever here was). 

With Asterius in her arms, she stepped out of the boat and went to explore the land. She decided to follow the coastline around it, to get a better feel of it. She walked for several minutes, enjoying the hot sun on her that dried her clothes and the cloth wrapped around her son, until suddenly she stopped and listened. 

She heard what sounded like a woman whimpering. As she listened closer, the low whimper suddenly shouted out in a loud voice full of rage. “CURSE HIM! CURSE HE WHO BETRAYED ME! CURSE MY OWN HEART FOR LOVING HIM!”

Cleo jumped back slightly and hugged her son closer. Gods help her if she was marooned here with a mad person, but not knowing what else to do, she walked over to the sand dunes where the voice was even now still screaming from. As she approached, she saw a young woman on her knees and slamming her clenched fists to the ground, as though she were fighting Gaia, the goddess of the earth, herself. 

“MAY THE SEA SWALLOW HIM UP! MAY THE EARTH GRIND HIS BONES! MAY…!” 

“Um, hello?” said Cleo hesitantly, as she wrapped her son’s face more securely in his blanket, hiding it from sight. She had no idea how this mad woman would react to seeing a baby Minotaur, even though she knew she was only delaying the inevitable. If they were alone on this island, if it truly was an island, then she had no choice but to reveal him. 

The woman looked up from the ground and stared at her, and when she did, Cleo found it hard not to hold back the gasp in her throat or the urge to turn and run, for she knew this woman. It had been a year since she had seen her, the woman whom she had seen for the first and last time together, but she remembered all too well the face of the last person she had seen before she and her fellow Athenians were sent to their deaths. 

The woman was dressed in a short but elegant tunic, with gold bracelets that adored her arm and ankle, and a gold chain that hung around her neck with a small medallion that hung at her throat with the engraved image of a bull; the symbol of the kingdom of Crete, and the crest of its royal family. 

Ariadne, daughter of king Minos, princess of Crete, and the one responsible for opening and closing the door of the Labyrinth! 

Minos, from what Cleo knew, had given his daughter the one key to the Labyrinth, making her responsible for sending all sacrificial victims in to their deaths. Whether this was a responsibility she had wanted or not, Cleo didn’t know, but she didn’t remember seeing any grief or regret on her face when she had closed the door on her and her friends. And even if she had, she was still the daughter of Minos, the tyrant who every year had rounded up her people to give to a creature that he had created through abuse and torment. His blood flowed through her veins, and now she was here on this island with her and her baby, the Minotaur’s child! 

“Gods be praised. I thought this land was deserted,” said Ariadne, relieved as she got up from her knees, looking at the young maiden. “Are you here alone? Do you have a ship?”

Cleo held her son tight and stepped back. What was she going to do now? 

Ariadne noticed the fear on her face and stood still. “I apologise for my shouting earlier,” she said, thinking that her screaming before must have alarmed her. “I am not usually like that, but…well…” A dark look crossed her face, and Cleo noticed the look of fury on her. “I do not mean to frighten you, but…I was marooned here on this island by he who I thought to be my lover.” 

Ah, so it was an island then. At least Cleo knew that much now. And apparently it was a deserted island, since Ariadne had said she and the others had seen no one else besides her. 

“What happened?” she asked, curious about how the princess of Crete had ended up here, marooned and alone. “How did you end up here?” 

The furious look grew ever more intense on the princess’s face, and Cleo thought that she might start punching the ground again. “I was abandoned! Betrayed and abandoned! I gave up everything including my own heart, and this is my penance!” Tears started to flow down her cheeks, as she clenched her fists and bit her lower lip. 

“What do you mean?” Part of her still wanted to run, but there was nowhere to go since this was an island, and no one to go to for help. Her only chance was to talk and listen, and hope to the gods that Minos’s daughter was only his child in blood and not in spirit. 

Ariadne stood silent for a few minutes, and then she spoke. “It was my own stupidity that caused it.” She sighed. “I am the daughter of a king…or at least I was. My father is a tyrant of the worst kind. Every year he murdered several young people from our enemies, by having them taken down and sacrificed to a monster that lives in our land.” 

Cleo bit down on her lip at the words about the Minotaur, but kept quiet. 

“On this year, among the sacrifices brought, there was none other than Theseus, son of Aegeus and prince of Athens. He had volunteered himself to be a sacrifice because he believed he could slay the beast.” 

Cleo blinked in surprise at the name. Of course she knew of Theseus, as every Athenian knew the name of their prince and future king, though, she had never seen him, as Theseus had never even been to Athens (or at least not before she had been sent to Crete anyway). From what she knew; when Theseus had been born, his father had left to rule Athens while he had remained behind with his mother in her homeland, Troezen. The rumour was; before leaving for Athens, Aegeus had buried his shield, sword and sandals beneath a great boulder, and told his wife that once their son was strong enough to lift that boulder and retrieve his possessions, then she must send him to him. 

If that were true then obviously he must have finally gained the strength to do so and arrived in Athens just after she had been sent to Crete. And no doubt it must have been he who had slain the Minotaur. 

Cleo felt her mind go blank. She didn’t know what to feel at that point. Until then she had been mostly concerned with the wellbeing of her son, but also had felt a seething rage that someone had killed her beloved friend and companion, Minotaur.

Now she knew that the Minotaur’s slayer was none other than her country’s own prince, a man she and all Athenians were bound to serve and honour. And as angered as she still was, she also knew Theseus had done what was expected of him. He was the prince and protector of her homeland; he had volunteered himself to go with the other sacrifices this year so that he could protect all of Athens by freeing them from what they knew as the dreaded beast. He had done no less than what was expected, so how could she place blame on him? 

‘But why did he have to kill him?’ she thought as she whimpered silently. ‘Why didn’t he just lay down his sword like I did? The Minotaur wouldn’t have fought him then.’ 

“I saw Theseus when he came to my father’s palace with the others,” Ariadne continued. “A tall, strong man he was. Handsome and brave, oh so brave he was. And willing to put his own life at risk to save his people. He spoke out against my father and volunteered to go first into the Labyrinth.” She looked down as though ashamed. “I felt drawn to him like no other man I had seen before. His bravery, his strength, his nobility and beauty, they all called to me. And like a fool, I followed!” 

She paused for a moment before continuing. “I pitied him for his fate, so I resolved to help. While I could not prevent him from being locked in the Labyrinth, I could at least give him a chance. I gave him a ball of thread, told him to tie one end to the door of where he would enter the Labyrinth, and then drag the thread behind him so that he could learn where he was going and what places he had already been to. With that he was able to find the beast and slay it, and then find his way back to the door.” 

‘So that’s where the thread came from,’ thought Cleo, as she remembered the thread that had led her to the Minotaur as he was dying, and then all the way back to the exit. 

“I stood waiting at the door hoping against hope that he would succeed, and lo and behold he did. By then my heart was completely consumed by my love for him. I begged him to take me with him to Athens; to make me his wife. He agreed, and we fled Crete on his ship.” 

“What happened then?” Cleo anxiously shifted her son in her arms, as it sounded like he was beginning to wake up. 

Ariadne’s face once more filled with dark fury. “We came to this island, where we stopped for provisions. While the men worked, I lay down for a short sleep, and when I awoke…” She kicked a foot-full of sand into the air. “HE ABANDONED ME! LEFT ME FOR DEAD ON THIS ISLAND!” 

Tears flowed down Ariadne’s face. “I willingly sacrificed all that I had for him! I betrayed my father, my country and my people! I lost everything! And he abandoned me!” She screamed. A CURSE ON HIM! A CURSE ON ALL MEN!” 

A loud wailing suddenly erupted from within Cleo’s arms, as her son awoke from Adriane’s crying. She rocked him gently, but he did not seem to be in the mood for sleeping anymore. 

Ariadne stopped and looked over, seemingly noticing that she was holding something for the first time. “You have a child with you?” she asked. “Is your family close by? Is there a village somewhere here?” 

Cleo swallowed nervously. “All that is left of my family are here with me right now. I know not if there are any other people here besides us. I was shipwrecked here during a great storm last night. I prayed to the great Poseidon for aid when we were lost on the sea, and he sent us here.” 

“Why would he send you here?” 

She looked down for a second. “Because I asked to be sent to a place where I and my child would be safe. Perhaps this island is the answer to my prayers.” 

Ariadne frowned. “Why would you need to be safe?” 

Cleo bit her lip. She knew there was no point running from the truth any longer. She might as well reveal all, and no matter what the former princess of Crete’s reaction might be, it wasn’t as though there was anything she could threaten them with. 

“You may not remember me, princess, but we have met before.” She gave her a hard look. “We met almost a full year ago to this day, after your father’s guards took me and my countrymen from our homeland in Athens, and brought us to Crete where we were led down the steps to where you awaited us, with your key to the door that led into the Labyrinth.” 

Ariadne’s eyes widened. “You…are from Athens???” 

At a nod from Cleo, she stared in amazement at her. “But…this isn’t possible. You say you are from the sacrifices a year ago. You couldn’t possibly have survived all that time in the Labyrinth with the monster…” 

“The Minotaur was no monster!” 

Ariadne looked puzzled at her. “How can you say such a thing? You and your fellow Athenians were thrown in to its Labyrinth to be its meal.” 

“The only monster in Crete was your own father!” Cleo replied sharply. “The Minotaur became the beast that it was through the abuse it suffered at his hands!” 

“You speak as though it were a man. I may not have seen it for myself, but if the rumours are true then it was a monster, part beast and part man…” 

“That rumour, as it turns out, is true. The Minotaur was indeed part man and part beast; bull to be precise. When I first encountered him, he almost rammed his horns straight into me and tried to kill me.” 

“But surely that proves without a doubt that he was a monster?” 

She shook her head. “Part beast he may have been, and he may have done some things that one could call monstrous, but…he was most definitely no monster.” She took a deep breath. “His mind was constantly at war with itself. It was as though his beast side fought with the part of him that was man. When I first met him, his beast half won many times and consumed him, but over time I began to see the man that was also inside him. The part that was gentle, kind and loving.” 

“Gentle and loving?” Ariadne stared at her in disbelief. “You speak as though you were talking about your lover, and not a creature of unnatural creation.” 

Cleo bit her lip, and looked down to her son who was still crying. In the end she sighed, and then with a fearful heart she pulled back the cloth surrounding his face, revealing it to the Cretan princess. 

Ariadne looked over and stared at the baby. The moment she did, she jumped back as though bitten, staring in shock at its bovine face. “By the gods! What in the name of Poseidon is that?!” 

Cleo looked hard at her. “My son! Mine and the Minotaurs.” 

Ariadne gasped, looking as though she would choke. “You and the beast?! You bore a…”

“I will not lie to you. When the Minotaur and I first met, he intended to do to me as he did my fellow Athenians. In fear I threw myself at his mercy, and as it turned out, while a monster he may have been, he was also still male. I was apparently the first female he had come across who had not tried to attack, or been a part of a group that tried to kill him. He became aroused, and I fed that arousal, which I did in order to save myself. He came upon me, and I submitted to his lust. After that he took me with him to his lair within the Labyrinth, and there I remained with him until his death.” 

“So…” Ariadne looked at her briefly, but soon turned her attention back to the baby. “You were raped by the monster?” 

She rocked her son gently. “Yes at first, but in time as I learned to understand him better, I saw past his monstrous form, and found a way to communicate with him. I saw that, while a beast he definitely was, he was also a man deep inside. He just needed someone to teach him how to let it out. In our months together, his aggression softened and he grew to watch out for me, always ensuring that I was well cared for. And at the end when he finally died, he never hurt me.” 

Ariadne kept switching her gaze from her to her baby. “I never saw the creature,” she admitted slowly. “All that I knew was what I learned from my father. He claimed that my mother was cursed by the god Poseidon, who made her fall in love with the very bull that my father was meant to return to the sea, and their affair led to the conception of the Minotaur.” She looked closer at the baby. “The Minotaur was kept hidden behind locked doors until the day the Labyrinth was built, and it was then cast inside, never to be seen again. I was born not long after. My mother died giving birth to me so I know not what she felt for the creature.” 

Her eyes met that of the child, gazing at her with its large eyes. “My father said my mother was driven mad after the Minotaur was born. The knowledge that she had given life to such a creature robbed her of her sanity. Nonetheless my father still kept her as his queen, in order to secure an heir of his own. He was…disappointed, when instead of a son she gave birth to me.” 

Cleo nodded. “It is the same with most fathers in this world. All desire a son to pass on their traditions. Mine was no different.” 

“I rarely saw him until the day he gave me the key to the Labyrinth and said that I was to be its gatekeeper, to keep the beast imprisoned and keep Crete safe, and then later to lead all prisoners to their doom.” A tear rolled down her cheek as she spoke. “He made me a murderer. My own father had me send all those poor souls into the Labyrinth, to their deaths! I curse his name even more than Theseus’!” 

“You and every other it seems. From what I saw when I first arrived in Crete, he was not well liked by anyone, including your own people.” 

“Even so, he was still my father. I did not betray him without regret. I was just so desperate to be free, to get away from Crete!” Ariadne wept. “I just didn’t want to be responsible for any more deaths, and now…now I am marooned here on this island, an outcast, forever known as she who betrayed her own father and country for a man who used her for a means and then abandoned her.” She fell to her knees and wept uncontrollably. 

As she wept, Cleo hesitantly approached her. “You’re not the first woman who has lost her heart to the wrong man. I am an Athenian, and while I am loyal to my people, my king and his son, I find his actions to you despicable and dishonourable; highly unworthy of the son of Ageas.” She knelt down beside her. “And you did say that you were desperate for a way to escape your father, were you not? While it did not go according to your original plan, you have successfully escaped him. If you had gone with my prince to Athens, chances are Minos may have sent his army to retrieve you, but this way he has no way of knowing where you are. You are truly free, my lady.” 

Ariadne looked up, her eyes still overflowing with tears. “But…I betrayed him. And now I am alone, for all the rest of my days.”

“Your father was a tyrant, a tormentor and a murderer!” said Cleo hostilely. “Whatever feelings of regret or remorse you may have, forget them. Minos deserves no such sentiment. And as for being alone; look before you.” She held out her son, who even now was giving a snort-filled giggle and holding out his arms, apparently wanting to be held by the unfamiliar woman before him. 

Ariadne looked at the baby half-beast unsurely. In truth, she saw the child as a monster and nothing else, and yet it had a sense of innocence about it in the way he gazed at his surroundings, the same way that all new-borns did. 

“I know he has the form of a beast,” said Cleo, as though she could read the former princess’s mind. “But he is as innocent as all children are, and like it or not he is of your family’s blood. He is the son of your mother’s son, making him your nephew.” She touched her son’s forehead with her own. “When he was born, the Minotaur left me. I suspect because he sensed the presence of others, and he went to face the one who turned out to be Theseus.” A tear escaped her. “I was left alone to bear my son, and when I eventually regained my strength and went to look for him, I found him half dead in one of the rooms, his horns missing. I reached him just shortly before he took his last breath. His last word to me was the name that he wished to give our child; Asterius.” 

Ariadne looked up at her. “Asterius?” she asked. “That was the name of the Minotaur itself, given when it was born.” 

Cleo paused and then nodded. That made sense. Being trapped underground most of his life, the Minotaur would not have known any other name save for its own. 

“Then perhaps this Asterius can live the life its father could not; in the sunlight. I will raise him myself, but I would gladly welcome any help, especially from one who is his aunt.” She looked at her half-expectantly, while Asterius fussed in her arms, wanting to see this new woman. 

Ariadne paused for a long few moments, her mind contemplating Cleo’s words. The child’s appearance still scared her somewhat, but that thought made her realise that that was no doubt what her father and people must have all felt upon seeing the Minotaur for the first time, and why they shunned and imprisoned him. If she were to follow by their example, she would be allowing history to repeat itself. Plus, she, this girl and her offspring were the only inhabitants of this island; it wasn’t as though she could avoid them, and would she even want to? 

Hesitantly, she stepped forward. “May I…hold him?” she asked. 

Cleo eyed her carefully for a few moments before she finally nodded, and motioned for her to approach. As she did, Cleo held out her son, and Ariadne carefully took him, struggling a little bit due to him being heavier than an ordinary human baby. 

She stared at him for a while, and he stared back with his wide and curious eyes. He then reached out and grabbed a lock of her hair with his stubby fingers, pulling it shortly until she smiled and gently pulled it back. While she definitely could not say that this baby was cute, she knew he wasn’t a monster either; at least not the one she had been raised to believe that his father was. 

“He’s…sweet,” she said honestly, tickling him under his chin and making him giggle. 

Cleo smiled. “Asterius,” she said, “meet your Aunt Ariadne.” 

Asterius giggled and kept trying to grab handfuls of his aunt’s hair, which she luckily kept out of his reach. After a while, Ariadne looked over at her apparent sister-in-law and sighed. “So what do we do now?” 

Cleo shrugged and looked over at some of the sand dunes. “Well, how about we go explore the rest of this island. We still need to find shelter and food.” 

Ariadne smiled and nodded, and together they walked off to explore. 

0000000000

The story of Cleo and her Minotaur child ends there. No one knows what became of them and Ariadne after that, though there were many rumours and myths. Some believed Dionysus, god of the harvest, pitied Ariadne for her betrayal by Theseus, and married her. Others simply say she, Cleo and her child remained on the island that later became known Naxos, where they lived out their lives and died. 

No matter what their endings were, though; one thing was certain, and that was they were free. Minos never came for either of them, as he knew nothing of Cleo and her child, and as far as he was concerned, Ariadne was a traitor and thus was dead to him. And Cleo’s people all obviously thought that she had died long ago with the previous sacrifices before Theseus slew the Minotaur. No one knew anything of them, and thus they were free from persecution and any who would wish them harm. 

As for Minos and Theseus, the two men who had wronged them; for these crimes, the gods knew there had to be punishment.

For Minos; his punishment was easy, for his fate had been sealed long before Cleo even came to Crete. In the past, he had employed the marvellous inventor, Daedalus, to design and build the Minotaur’s Labyrinth, only to imprison him in a high tower once he had finished, so that he would never tell anyone the secrets of the Labyrinth. Daedalus escaped, of course, but at a heavy price; he fashioned two pairs of wings for him and his son Icarus, to fly them to safety, but Icarus flew too close to the sun, and its heat melted the wax that held his wings together, causing him to fall to his death. Daedalus was never the same again. 

Not long after Cleo escaped Crete, Minos found Daedalus hiding on the island of Sicily, in the kingdom of Kamikos, under the care of King Cocalus. Although the Minotaur was dead, Daedalus was still a skilled craftsmen and inventor, and Minos demanded the king return him or else feel his wrath. Not wanting to start a war, Daedalus willingly surrendered and went with him back to Crete, but in the end that was Minos’s downfall. 

Minos was so arrogant that he failed to stop and consider the danger that Daedalus might pose to him. Daedalus harboured rage toward him for the part he played in his son’s death, but Minos had forgotten this. More importantly, he had also forgotten all the other work Daedalus had done for him in his employ. 

During the years he took to build the Labyrinth, Daedalus had also built many other things for Minos, including his bathhouse. He knew its design and layout from memory, including every tap and pipe it used. Being the skilled craftsman he was, Daedalus had no problem breaking out of a locked cell. He waited until evening before making his way to the room containing the pipes that led into the king’s bathhouse. After Minos went in for his evening bath, it was just the matter of a few twists and turns of certain pipes, and Daedalus flooded the king’s tub, with him still in it, with scalding hot water, and boiled him alive. 

A most gruesome fate indeed, but one perfect for an equally gruesome man. 

As for Theseus, his punishment was not to die, but in a way his fate was more torturous than Minos’. 

Theseus’s father, Ageas, had been strongly against Theseus going to Crete, but Theseus had insisted. He did, however, promise his father that upon his return his ship would fly one of two sails, a black one or a white one. The white sail would be a message to his father and all of Athens that Theseus was alive and thus had prevailed against the Minotaur. The black one, however, would only mean his death. 

For betraying and deserting Ariadne, the gods placed a dark cloud over Theseus’s mind, causing him to forget about the sails and his promise, and thus he sailed to Athens in the shadow of a black sail. When he returned home, Ageas had been on the cliffs watching, waiting and hoping for his son’s safe return, and when he saw the ship and its dark sail, he became so consumed with grief that he flung himself from the cliffs and into the rocky sea below, which was then thereafter named for him. Theseus’s last sight of his father was of him falling to his death, and only then did he remember the sails. 

Theseus was then named king of all Athens, but the thought that he had gained his crown by driving his own father to his death was almost more than he could bear. And his torture did not end there. 

For slaying the beast that was Cleo’s friend and mate, the gods plagued Theseus with a recurring nightmare that haunted him for the rest of his life. In his dream, Theseus would wander the corridors of his palace, looking for a monster to kill. But in the dream he would always end up killing one of his own family, and when he stood up from the kill he would look across the room and see his reflection in the mirror. Only it would not be his face that he would see, but the face that of the Minotaur’s. 

The dream tormented him the rest of his life. He consulted many priests and wise men, but no one could ever tell him its meaning. 

 

The End!


End file.
